The Human's Journey
by Deepfreeze222
Summary: Sam is thrown into Equestria by his moronic and chaotic tendencies. He discovers what surrounds him and freaks out. After hiding in a tree for the night he is unceremoniously found by the apple loving mare Applejack. Will he find friendship, love? Who knows, except me of course! Note: No actual pony romance. There will be romance just no pony romance. Will still have ponies within.
1. Chapter 1

The Humans Journey

One day I decided to take a stroll through the park and that is where my life changed, for better or worse I have yet to decide.

As I was walking I felt the soft glow of the sun hitting my skin and slightly warming me. It was a good day, and everything was turning up Sam. Life was spectacular.

As I strolled through the park in my chipper ignorance I heard, and practically felt, a strange buzzing rhythm, almost akin to cicadas only with much more bass. Being as curious as I was I knew I needed to find out what it was or risk going slightly insane until I got back home.

Using my ears and my hands I began the painstakingly slow process of locating the mysterious sound.

Eventually I came upon a glade of tree's somewhere near the middle of the park. And that was where I saw it, the thing that would change my life forever.

It was a giant sphere of seemingly liquid golden metal with light coming off of it, not to much to blind me to it but enough for me to notice it was indeed glowing, and single ribbons of color swimming through it never touching one another.

I was mesmerized to put it bluntly. I had never seen anything like it in all my 27 years of life. I had seen many a sight but nothing even close to this.

As I walked toward this sphere of brilliance some part of my mind was telling me to back away and never return but the rest of my mind just told it to shut it, I knew I had to touch it to FEEL it under my palm and bask in its dim golden light.

When I was but a step from it I stopped and looked around feeling extremely guilty for some reason. It almost felt like I was about to leave a friend that needed me. Just to be safe I took out my phone and texted my sister what was happening.

"Found some weird thing in park, going to check out. If not back by sun down call cops."

With that taken care of I proceeded to attempt to interact with the dazzling orb.

I was at the sphere now and seeing it up close made me a little hesitant to touch it when a voice inside my head whispered "_Do it._" I wasn't sure why but did as it said, trusting it completely.

I stuck my finger out and poked it.

...

Nothing.

I did it again.

...

Nothing.

The third time I didn't hold back. I placed my entire palm on it. And regretted it deeply.

All I felt at that moment was pain. Excruciating pain. I almost blanked out until I felt a weird sensation in my ears. I recognized this strange feeling and remembering to last time I had felt it I panicked. I was falling and the small part of my mind that had told me to walk away was telling me two things right now: 'You are a moron' and 'I told you so, you moron'.

The revelation that I was falling forced my mind to stay conscious and what I saw mystified me. I was in some sort of cylindrical tunnel, the walls the same complexion as the sphere. Which by now had disappeared.

Through the pain I saw that two weird, cobalt blue, skintight bands had appeared on my wrists, almost like paper thin shackles.

My view point then shifted, and it was like reliving an old memory. I was looking at my self. I took stock of everything to make sure I wasn't mutated or something bad.

Same light orangish-red hair. Still 5'11. Same blue-green eyes. Pale white complexion and subdued muscular build. Khaki shorts and green T-shirt and brown beach sandals.

_Wait... I'm not muscular._ Was my only thought as I reverted to first person and slammed into a dirt road.

I blinked out for moment and when I came to I almost blinked out again, for before me was a shocking sight indeed. I was surrounded by a bunch of miniature pastel colored... _horses?_ with tattooed butts and some with wings and others with horns. There looks were an assortment of confusion, terror, curiosity, and... _bedroom eyes?_ _What the hell._

When my mind finally managed to process this I immediately went into my flight or fight mode and flight won. I took off. Screaming at the top of my longs "What the hell is going on?!"

I ran out of the town towards what appeared to be an apple orchard. Looking behind me I didn't see anything chasing me.

I knew I could hide from those weird horses in this forest of agricultural trees. Them being horses I knew most of if not all of them couldn't climb a tree and definitely not as well as me.

* * *

><p>After about ten minutes of non-stop running, thanks to my new build, I knew I was finally safe.<p>

I looked at my surroundings.

"Why does everything look so vibrant, and why are my wrists so tingly?" I said with a confused tone and expression while looking at my new accessories.

It looked to be about dusk and I knew I needed to find somewhere to sleep. It was then that I spotted a nice looking tree, and not taking chances, climbed it to hide in the top layer of leaves so I couldn't be seen from above or below, hopefully.

As I recounted the events of the last half an hour I came to the realization of what actually did happen and the gravity of my situation hit me hard.

_I'm stuck here. _I thought.

_My sister alone. She doesn't have any friends or family other then me who care about her. What will she do, where will she_ go? These thoughts running through my mind I eventually noticed that my own predicament might be worse._ I have no friends, no family. Nor will I ever have one again if I cant find my way home. I am stuck in some strange place ruled by mutated horses. I have no home, no money, and nothing to sell as of right now. _I thought as each word depressed me further.

Just before morning (Third person)

Applejack was getting ready to start the day. She had brushed her mane and put it into her trademarked bands and had donned her famous stetson. She walked down stairs to join her family for breakfast.

"Applejack, did you here about that strange creature that was seen in town yesterday? Everypony said it ran towards the orchard." Applebloom asked her sister as she sat down to the table and began eating.

"No I haven't, do you think it ever got to the orchard?" She said after swallowing her first bite.

"I'm not sure." She said, wearing a face of childlike ignorance, being actually ignorant to how dangerous this creature actually could be.

"Careful out there" Big mac said with concern for his sister's well being. "Today's my day to sell apples"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head I can take care of myself you know" She said in a slightly taunting tone, not actually wanting her brother to leave.

"I know you can but still be careful, I will be back this afternoon" Big mac said, not taking the bait. They talked a little while longer about the creature and of the days chores. Eventually Big mac finished his breakfast and got up to leave.

Applejack said goodbye to her brother and after finishing her breakfast decided it was time to get to work. She said goodbye to Granny Smith and Applebloom knowing that she would most likely not see them till supper and walked out the door to start bucking.

She went to the barn first remembering that she needed baskets and a wagon. As she got to the barn and readied her supplies, she started thinking.

_I wonder what kind of creature was seen in town. Applebloom__ didn't give me any details other then it being something nopony could name. What if it's dangerous? Well whatever it is, it better not try to hurt me or my family or it will pay dearly! _Her fear turning into protective anger for her family's safety.

As she neared her first tree for the day, she looked around with a sniper's eye looking for any movement. Content with seeing nothing but the occasional bug and small mammal she got ready to buck.

To bad all she did was look around her not above her, for sitting in the very tree she was about to buck was the very thing that caused her wariness in the first place. The sleeping creature.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **This is my first story. I dont know exactly what to do with it as of writing the first chapter but there will be some slight swearing and maybe, maybe, clop in future chapters if this goes anywhere. This is a physical self insert for everything except my height and my age. This isn't my personality nor my history. If you read this I ask you to comment, review, or PM me, I would like any and all critcism even if it is just a single line. However if it is just a message saying "This story is shit" or anything like that I will ignore your input. If you dont like my story explain why so I can improve. I personally have always had hard time with dialogue which is why much of the first part lacks it. I will try my best with the dialogue but promise nothing special in those regards. And no I wont do the apple family's accents. I would just end up screwing them up. Also sorry for the first sentence, I know that is utter crap.** **I also feel like there is a disconnect between the descriptive lines and the little amount of internal and external dialogue I have written. I would like to know if any of you who happen upon this story feel the same awkwardness. It might just be me but I can never be too sure. Till next time see ya on the flip side (always wanted to use that send off).**


	2. Chapter 2: Bumpy Introductions

Humans perspective

**A/N: Sorry everyone who read the second chapter already. I guess I messed up the posting. Man am I glad I caught that.**

I was having a great dream filled with my favorite food of all time, cheeseburgers. Yeah, I knew they weren't the healthiest thing in the world but the meat, especially at places that get it right, just compliments the bun and cheese so well I can't force myself to eat anything else until I had one. _MMMM buuurrrrgerrrs..._

**Thump**

_What the fu-_**Snap**

All of a sudden I was falling again.

I landed quite softly. I didn't remember where I was and didn't notice my smooth landing was caused by something soft and fuzzy.

I looked around angrily "Who's the jerk who knocked me out of my tree" I yelled to no one in particular.

It was then that I heard a, surprisingly, feminine grunt.

I looked below me and saw one of those wierd horses laying beneath me.

"Holy crap, are you okay?!" The redundant question coming out of my mouth automatically till I realized that they probably couldn't understand me or even speak as far as I knew.

I quickly scrambled off to get away and turned around to run but stopped when I noticed it was unconscious.

"Stupid big brotherly instincts" I grumbled as I decided to see if the poor thing was injured. As I walked over I noticed that it was orange with long blonde hair tied up in red band.

Its breathing seemed to be slighlty erratic and labored as well. I hoped I didn't somehow manage to puncture its lung, that would be really bad.

I knew I had to do something to help it but wasn't sure how to go about it. If I slung it over my shoulder I risked hurting its, possibly, already hurt lung even more, and I didn't know how long it would be before I could find my way out and find someone to help me. I also didn't want to leave it alone in such a condition. I also knew that holding it like it was a baby might put more strain on its lung and possibly damaged ribcage depending on where my arms were and that it would be one of the more uncomfortable and tiring ways to carry it.

It was then that I noticed it was a female, and boy was that awkward and I was really glad, albeit a little dissapointed in myself for it, that she was still unconscious and looked away quickly. I may never have been intimate with someone before but I was definitely no starved perv, especially with different species.

I finally came to the conclusion to carry her baby burping style with my right forearm securing her _Flank? is that what its called? _and her head cradled in the crook of my neck with my left forearm securing the middle of her back, holding her so she leaned against me but with most of her body's weight on her spine and off of her undercarriage. Surprisingly she wasn't all that heavy even though I could tell she was muscular just by holding her, feeling her muscles under her fur. She weighed at most 40 pounds. And with my new build she was easy to carry for the moment.

I then set off, it took me awhile but I finally managed to find a trail which thankfully allowed me to see a big, bright red barn in the distance.

After a few minutes walk I arrived. "Hello? Is anyone there. This thing is hurt and needs help." I called not caring that I probably couldn't be understood, only caring if I was heard or not.

For the next few moments I waited looking around to see if I could spot another one of these things. I yelled a second time. Still no response.

It was then that I decided to look around to see if I could find anyone. After about 20 minutes of lugging her around searching, with a 5 minute break I still couldn't find anyone. I started looking around in the distance to see if I could spot that town I originally landed in.

Eventually I did and started my walk there.

After a few minutes I arrived near the border of the town. I had stopped, contemplating whether or not I should take her straight in or call out for someone when my decision was made for me.

"_Look out!" _A voice in my head yelled. I turned just in time to see a rainbow colored blur slam into my side and felt the creature being lifted out of my hands. All I felt right now was the kidney pain and the almost unbearable sensation of pins and needles in my wrists at a seemingly ten-fold sensativity.

I looked around and saw what hit must have hit me. "Did I just get tackled by a baby blue rainbow haired pegasus?" I asked incredulously, looking at the pegasus about 20 feet above me with what I was guessing a smug grin for getting in a cheap shot.

"Stay away from my friend you mutated diamond dog!" a tomboyish voice yelled at me. I was wondering where it came from when another voice, this one posh and slightly english yelled "Rainbow Dash, Applejack looks hurt. You could have hurt her even more if I hadn't caught her!" Chided what appeared to be a white unicorn with highly stylized lavander hair to the pegasus now known to me to be Rainbow dash.

In my moment of dazed confusion I yelled at the baby blue pegasus "I was trying to help her you freaky horse!" I then noticed her face go from arrogant and smug to really pissed off war horse of death.

She dived forward achieving speeds I didn't think possible for a living creature to obtain in such a short distance. I felt my arms come up into an instinctual defensive position.

...

A slight tingle in my wrists but nothing more.

I opened my eyes to see a shocked expression on the unicorns face and yet another horse lying on the ground unconscious. "Two for two, awesome!" I said with a bitter hint in my tone. I really didn't want to keep injuring horses, especially now that I thought about it, hadn't done anything to me without reason.

I scrambled to her side and checked her breathing and heartbeat.

"I think she is okay, just unconscious" I told the unicorn who was starting to come to her senses.

She trotted over to me a concerned look on her face "Are you sure darling that was a really big collision?"

"I am no vet but I am pretty sure she is fine just unconscious." I stated. It was then that I noticed that I just started and ended a brief yet full conversation with a white unicorn with stylized purple hair and that the Rainbow maned pegasus only reason for charging me would have been her understanding my, apparently insulting, remark.

"You can talk?!" I half screamed half cried scrambling away furiously.

"Of course dear, I am a pony after all." She stated not caring that I probably insulted her nor caring that she was talking to what, I could only assume, was a beast or monster in her world.

I started to calm down and remembered what I originally came here to do. I got over my fear of the impossible situation I was in and decided to flip my shit at a more opportune time. "The _pony_ you have in your force hold is hurt and badly I think. She might have a punctured lung and maybe a broken rib or two"

Her face fell and she remembered how _Applejack, is that what she called the orange one?, _looked in my arms. "We need to get her to the hospital and quickly!" she stated with urgency. I nodded already knowing this but humoring her and picked up the unconscious pegasus and we ran towards what I assumed was the local hospital. Not noticing my new blue accesories were glowing and pulsating with a new found energy.

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><p><strong>AN: Wow I actually had quite a few views in my first day of having this up. I didn't think I'd actually get more then 2 or 3 I got around 60 as of uploading this chapter. Still dont know if the story is any good or has any merit. I did get some tips from one of my aquantinces? friends?, it doesn't really matter at the moment, on the site and he gave me some much needed advice but until I am told that, by multiple people, the story is bad I will probably continue until I either run out of idea's or I get bored with it. Don't worry I won't just up and leave the story dry, I will find a way to end it. I haven't decided on who the love interest will be but will figure it out hopefully by the next chapter. I will update at my own pace as I see fit but will try not to go longer then two weeks. No guarantee of things though, especially with my english teachers obsession with assigning essays over the weekend. Italics indicate the characters thoughts and yes there is a reason for the voice in his head to have quotation marks around it while also being italicized and bold implies an audible noise neccesary for context. If you are returning or if the first chapter didn't scare you off, I hoped you enjoyed the second one.**


	3. Chapter 3: Fun with my Delerium

As the _pony _and I made our way to the hospital with our two charges, going as quickly as we could without causing any more harm then I had already done, I noticed the other ponies giving me the same looks as before and it creeped me out to no end and terrified me a little when they wouldn't stop.

"Uh excuss me Miss..." I said attempting to try and block them out.

"Rarity is the name darling."

"Are we almost to the hospital... Applejack was it?" I asked gesturing to the pony in her force hold. She nodded. "Was hurt quite some time ago I would say close to 45 minutes and she appears to be getting worse."

"It is right around the corner" She said attempting to quicken her pace which I could barely keep up without jostling the pony on my shoulder around to much.

We arrived in the next few minutes. Rarity started explaining the situation and predicament Applejack was in pretty well and calmly for someone who should have been, in all honesty, freaking out having to escort a monster and her unconscious and injured friend to a hospital.

What I am assuming was a nurse took notes and handed them to a bigger looking one pony and he said to bring Applejack to get stabalized. He then sent another nurse to prepare another room for Rainbow dash for a check-up. Rarity went in with them in case they needed any other information.

Once that was all done Rarity came back out of the doors seperating the waiting room from the rest of the hospital.

"How are they?" I asked feeling guilty about all the trouble I had caused.

"Rainbow is fine but it will be a tad before they are able to get back to us on Applejack" She said letting out an almost hopeless sigh after telling me the condition of her two friends.

It was just awkward silence for a few moments. Thinking that saying something along the lines of thats a relief might just make her feel worse about the whole situation. I was swayed by my thoughts when she asked me a few questions in quick succesion the shock of seeing something like me starting to wear off and be replaced with fear.

"How did Applejack get hurt? How did you find her? Why did you help her? What kind of diamond dog are you?"

I let out a sigh, I sensed the rest of the day wasn't going to be much better. Not caring about anything at this moment just wanting to tell someone to help me straighten it out myself, I decided to tell her everything.

"Ok then you asked for it. I am a human being from a suberbs region in the great lakes area. I was taking a stroll through a park when I felt and heard a really deep bass buzzing. I decided to check it out. I eventually found a glowing golden sphere, made a dumbass out of myself and touched it which is, I am assuming, when these appeared" I said as I held up my wrists to her and twisting them to emphazise my point. Continuing "I landed in town, freaked out, ran, and decided to climb a tree for the night." I sighed getting my thoughts together on how to tell her the next part. "I woke up to a thump and next thing I knew I was on top of your friend. After a marginal internal struggle I decided to see if she was okay. That is when I noticed the way she breathed and assumed it wasn't normal. I then proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes trying to get out of the orchard, look for someone, and deciding on whether or not to head to town. And you know the rest" I finished. A little winded from my explanation.

She just stared at me with expresionless eyes for a few moments making me feel very self conscious and squimish. She eventually looked away, taking in everything I said. A look of concentration on her face. No doubt due to the holes she was trying to poke into my story, glancing at my bands every once in a while. She was interupted when a nurse came out.

"Miss Rarity?" She called. Rarity got up and walked over. They exchanged a few words and walked through the doors.

I got really nervous. They couldn't be done already, it was impossible. They were only there, at the most, a little under an hour. And Rarity had said that they had needed to stabalize Applejack before they could do anything. I didn't know how long stabalization of a patient took but I doubt it was only a few minutes since they would then have get her ready for an X-ray and do said procedure then figure out where to head from there, whether that path be surgery or some other procedure they might have here. What if she died! I started to hyperventilate as I pictured what could and was going wrong and that it was all my fault ultimately. I was slapped out of my mini panic attack by a hard hoof across the face. Standing there was Rarity. She had a weird look on her face.

"What was that all about?" She asked her tone even.

"What is wrong with Applejack?!" I blurted out ignoring her question.

"She is-" Rarity was ignored once again as I started having a large panic attack asking to myself what was I going to do muttering and sputtering of how much harm I had done in such a short time in what appeared to be a quite little town. I started murming to myself that I would find a way, any way, to reverse it. My terrified rantings turning into thoughts of complex machines that were light years ahead of what my simple brain could comprehend let alone build and sayings of retribution and how I would serve her family to the end of days to right my mistake all coming from my mouth

I started gaining attention the louder I got and soon I was talking in a slightly louder then normal voice. This whole time Rarity trying to calm me down. Eventually she got fed up of doing it the easy way and took her back hoofs and softly but firmly bucked me onto one of the sitting room mats. She looked deep into my eyes and I saw something I didn't expect to see in hers.

Respect.

She started speaking slowly as if to a child.

"Applejack. Is. Fine."

I felt relief flood my system almost passing out from the sheer joy I was experiencing. But the look she was giving me stopped me from experiencing it.

"Applejack would like to speak with you as well darling." Her accent coming back more pronounced. I hadn't even noticed it was almost gone. I gulped and she let me stand up. It was only then that I realized I towered over her. The top of her head almost coming up to where my belly button was.

She led me through the waiting doors and down a few hallways and up a flight of stairs where we continued until we got to 5th door on the left. Rarity opened it and I stepped inside, where I saw Applejack in the hospital bed seemingly waiting for us.

"Rarity would you mind gettin my brother? He should still be up at the usual spot."

"Sure thing dear." Rarity said before going up to Applejack and giving her a friendly nuzzle and a small exchange and then set off to find her friends brother.

"I think we need to talk." She stated bluntly.

Rarity's POV

I couldn't help but think about how terrified that creature was when he somehow managed to talk himself into thinking he killed her. Spouting random nonsense about repaying the debt. The wierd thing was, he seemed to have his mind set on doing these things instead of just trying to make himself feel better. If she had let him continue on his tyrade of ideas, the latest and last one being a form of personal slave to anyone that was related by blood to Applejack until whether he died naturally or worked himself to it, she didn't want to know what he would have done. She shivered slightly.

That was when she started believing his story without being suspicious of him. Of course she had told Applejack everything he had told her and when they went back in the room told her of his little tyrade.

The walk from ponyville hospital to the market part of town took about 10 minutes. I started looking around the general area I knew the Apples' liked to set up shop. Eventually I found Big mac and wanting to get back to Applejack as soon as possible set my mind on giving him the message I was supposed to deliver as soon and as quickly as I could.

"Hello Miss Rarity" Big mac said in his rumbling voice. He was at an old stall that was a little banged up but had an apple on the board above the selling top.

"Hello to you to Big mac" I said. Cutting straight to the chase "I am here to deliver a message from Applejack. She is at the hospital healing up after her rib had punctured her lung from an injury on the farm." With each word Big mac's expression became a little more concerned.

"How in the world did she get an injury like that, is she alright at least?" He asked.

"She is fine for the moment, but you know that creature that was seen in-" I was cut off as Big mac raced as fast as he could to his little sisters side in the hospital with a guilty consciense, a burning fury, and concerned heart.

Sam's POV

The last 15 minutes had passed by with Applejack and I talking about Equestria. She believed me thankfully, or thought I was crazy and just humoring me either way I got to learn about this strange new land. We talked about the different types of ponies and the difference between mares and stallions and the basic ways to tell them apart. We also talked about cutiemarks, the princesses, she even brought up some wierd thing about her being an element of harmony, what ever that was. When we got done with all the questions I had for now that she could answer, she started to say something but was cut off by a large slamming down stairs. We were right by the window that overlooked the entrance so we could hear it quite clearly.

There was some yelling and eventually, about 30 seconds later, a large red stallion with an orange mane rushed in. He ran over to Applejack. I assumed this was Big mac her older brother. I stood up and said hi kind of awkwardly. I didn't want to ruin the moment but I also didn't want to make him feel weird for not noticing me. When he finally did notice me though, I thought I could literally see steam come from his nostrils.

He charged and with little time to react he rammed right into me sending me out the window. Luckily we were only on the second floor and I managed to land in the hedges. As I was getting up I heard the stallion yell from the window "You EVER show your face around my family or my farm again I will buck you so hard I will erase your existence from Equestria!" He bellowed in pure rage.

I was terrified. That stallion was strong, much stronger then I was or could ever hope to be, and I did not want to tangle with him over his little sister and so I did the most logical thing I could do. I ran. Fast.

I ran and ran till I came upon a forest. I thought I remembered Applejack telling me something about this place but couldn't remember what. I decided it was safer then Ponyville at the moment and headed inside. The trees seemed to shimmer with a purple light getting more distinct with each layer of trees the deeper I went.

As I was deciding what I would do next I heard a scream of terror and took off.

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><p><strong>AN: And third chapter. I noticed a few people came back for the second chapter, thats awesome. I personally tried really hard to make this one longer then first two chapters and hope I did. I also think I am starting to get more comfortable writing dialogue, it felt smoother and more like something a person, well pony in most cases, would say. I still don't think it is all that great but I do think I am improving at a slow rate. You guys might not like who I have in mind for romantic interest but I dont really know what you guys like you haven't told me anything. If you made it this far you don't despise the story or else you wouldn't be reading this and so far I haven't had enough time to really develop anything but small points of exposition and characterization here and there so you might still be open to the idea since the genre has yet to be clearly defined in the story. But anyways back to the love interest, you guys might not like her or at least what she is. I had originally planned on making it either Applejack or Twilight or if I wanted to try something daring for my first fic Derpy. But I just got done reading an awesome fic last night that set in stone who I want to be the love interest. And yes changing POV's but I promise that I will only really use them to furthur the plot. None of that third person crap. I have also stopped using internal dialogue since the few places I have used it seemed a little forced (haven't forgotten the voice). If someone just really wants to see how a certain character thinks then I will consider doing an unnecessary POV, but again no voluntary input from anyone so I can do what ever I want as long as it isn't dumb and you cant bitch, well you can it just wont be very effective. Damnit I didn't want I buff wall of dialogue for my A/N for this chapter. Eh, oh well I dont want to cut anything out. See ya on the flip side. (hehe might adopt that as my sendoff)**


	4. Chapter 4: Nature's new best Friend

I started scrambling through the trees and other assortment of vegetation trying to get to where I thought the scream had come from. I called out trying to see if I whatever it was could hear me.

"Hello!"

"I heard your scream and came to help!"

"Over hear" Said a voice that was quickly followed by a panicked... women?

"You have to help me please my tree... it is on fire please I need that tree. I will do anything you ask please just help me." She begged as she grabbed my shirt.

I nodded and she sprinted into a some bushes with me right behind her. When we came out the other side my jaw dropped. I was staring at a ginormous tree with a deep greenish glow and around it was a circular river emitting a light blue glow that was practically hidden by the water's own color. We were about 20 feet from the tree and the entire thing we where in seemed to be completely circular with trees and hedges with a deep purple glow of their own. All around were panicked creatures all staring at the tree which I now noticed was the one on fire.

At first as we rushed towards it I didn't notice that that was the tree that was on fire but only because the fire was green just like the tree's aura making it harder to see. Only the base was on fire but that could quickly change.

But the fire itself looked wierd, almost like it was on top of a liquid, burning. It was then that I remembered back to my late night study sessions in college and of Byzantium week. One of their most powerful naval weapons: Greek fire. I knew if this was somehow Greek fire that we couldn't put it out. We needed things to snuff it out like sand but there weren't any and the only other thing around was the water and vegetation. Both having the possibility of making it worse.

I skidded to a halt trying to think of something.

"What are you doing?!" The girl yelled "You said that you would help me." as she hauled a large basket towards the tree.

She placed it into the water and I knew what she was going to do.

"Stop!" I yelled as I ran trying to get to her.

**Sploosh **

Thwoom

There was a small fireball that flew up the tree.

"Ahhh!" The girl yelled in agony. I was confirmed, it was Greek fire. She tried touching the tree but I got to her in time and tried pulling her away. She wouldn't budge but couldn't move forward either.

I knew I needed to get her away from the tree lest the branches start breaking off or, heaven forbid, the tree just topples.

I tugged her arm back as hard as I could with mine pulling her to me and used the moment to turn, switching our positions in the process, and pushed her forward. It was then that the tree did fall almost completely burned through. What I didn't notice however was that my bands were vibrating and if I had turned around I would have seen the tree's aura, and the almost invisible tether between it and the women, rush to my bands.

I jumped forward out of the way of a falling branch and landed next to the women. She was a little dazed from the sudden movement's of myself and I was able to pull her away without much hassle.

When she finally regained her bearings she sat up and stared at the now smoldering tree which had quickly gone out once it fell. She had a look of utter despair and confusion in her eyes at the same time.

By this time the animals had fled and we where alone.

I looked over at her and was surprised to see that she was tinted a light green. She had a silk dress on that hugged and accentuated her body's _assets_ quite well, the dress being a dark shade of green matching the grass in the grove. She had long flowing red hair with small streaks of green in it here and there. Her face was beautiful. She had eyes the color of the sky and lips the color of her hair. She didn't wear anything on her feet and her dress' skirt only flowed to about the middle of her lower leg, I assumed as there wasn't all that much on the ground.

She looked at the tree with such despair in her eyes it seemed as if she had just lost a child.

I knew that if she kept thinking and looking at the tree she would just become more depressed and I knew that after losing something dear to you, a friend could be a saving grace.

I opted out of the traditional "Are you okay" knowing that emotionally she clearly was not okay. And physically she seemed fine.

I cleared my throat to get ready for the awkward conversation and to get her to turn her attention towards me. When she looked over I fired off my question.

"Why was that tree so special to you?" Not using any tact or sensativity by accident.

"It was me." She stated bluntly. This isn't going well, I thought to myself.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not understanding.

"That tree right there-" She said pointing to the tree.

"Is me. We are connected to each other, as long as it lives I live." She said looking at me with confusion and sadness in her eyes.

I noticed what she said and asked the question brewing in my mind "But if it is dead then how are you still here?"

"I don't know but I can still feel it somehow. It is slighly different then before but I still feel it. Even though nothing could have survived that."

I saw the pain in her eyes after that statement and knew I needed to do something so I decided to go for the comforting hand on shoulder and kind smile. As I was raising my hand I noticed her gaze shift to it and her eyes lit up, all confusion gone and the depression fading away to a dim light.

She snatched my hand and held it to her face examining it for a second and then my band. She put her finger on it and I instantly reeled in pain due to the pins and needles dancing up my entire arm and hand.

"Please... stop... that...hurts." I managed to get through the pain which had now almost paralyzed my body. She stopped immediately after hearing me.

"So you are the reason I am still alive!" She exclaimed loudly and happily.

Once my arm stopped pulsating I looked at her. "What?" I asked.

"Those bands are magical. Each set allows the wearer to absorb a magical creatures most useful ability, from the perspective of said wearer. Each set also has a special usage dependent upon the strongest ability in its arsenal. When you moved between the tree and I its aura transferred from itself to you." As she said each word she inched a little closer to me.

"What! You mean to tell me I have magical bands which absorbs peoples abilites and that now I am a tree and also supporting your life because of such?" As I was having yet another mini freak out she crawled closer to me until she was basically on top of me. Once I realized this I stopped. She said one word "Yes".

I couldn't take it any more I flipped my shit. All the craziness of the past day and a half caught up to me. I jumped up knocking her over and started just running around the clearing like an idiot yelling obscenities and cursing the universe just freaking out and seething in pent up anger. I did this for about half an hour and stopped when I felt tired and my throat was raw. When I finally calmed down I walked over to the women. She looked a little scared.

"What?" I asked harshly.

"Do...you not want me?" She asked almost in tears and it was then that I knew that she wasn't scared of me but for herself.

Not caring at this point in time if I was an asshole or not I answered "Well it doesn't really matter what I do or don't want now does it? I am stuck in what I am assuming is a completely different world filled with nothing but ponies and animals and apparently a green women! Which I now have to deal with for the rest of my life. Not to mention I won't ever see my family ever again and I am most likely going to be feared and hated by the general populace because each one I interact with I steal their most useful ability. I have no home, no friends, no family, no nothing and now I have to support someone on top of it."

She just collapsed into a sitting position at my words and started to weep silently into her hands.

Man I was a DICK. I felt terrible when I saw this. I didn't know what to do so I just sat down next to her. After a few minutes I knew what I wanted to say and how to say it.

"I don't dislike you. I don't like you either but I just don't know you. Now knowing this world has magic I don't think I can go back since I am bonded to you. I don't know what to do or how to do it. I know almost nothing of this world or how it works. And at the moment I don't really have anyone to turn to to help me fix any of this. I understand if you don't want anything to do with me. I am sorry for what I said and will completely understand if you want me to leave." I sat there waiting for her to say something, when she didn't I decided to take that as a sign to leave. I started to get up but stopped when I felt a hand on my arm.

"I forgive you. If you want we can be friends." She asked with hopeful eyes.

I just stopped altogether and stared at her. I couldn't believe she had accepted my apology. I said she was a burden that I didn't want to deal with her. After a few moments she let go and just stared at the ground with a sad look on her face.

That finally snapped me out of shock. "I think that would be great" I said as I sat back down beside her with a smile on my face. She smiled back.

I did have one question on my mind though

"May I ask, what are you? Everything else I have meet has been a pony or an animal"

"I am a dryad." She said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, which to her it probably was.

"A dryad? Hm I haven't seen any others or any trees that looked like your's."

"I am alone in the forest. Most of my sisters where corrupted and killed when the alicorn sisters left the forest. The others eventually faded away not needed by nature any more because of the ponies controlling everything. I honestly don't know why I was spared that cruel fate." She said in a sad tone.

I didn't know what to say to that and was trying to think of something else to say when I felt arms around me. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I am holding onto my tree and new friend, why?". "I could ask you the same question"

"Because that is what I did with my other tree. I would just hold it sometimes when I was lonely or sad."

"Well I feel a little uncomfortable with you holding me like this" I said as I felt her assets pushing into me.

"Why? It is just a hug." She stated seemingly ignorant of the fact that she was extremely attractive.

"Well its...uh... how do I put this, not something my kind likes doing with someone they don't know very well. It is usually between family and very close friends." At this she let go finally noticing my discomfort.

"But why?" She asked not entirely understanding the reason.

"I always assumed it was a one of those priviliges you gain for someone when you know them well."

"Your kind is wierd."

"Tell me about it."

"So what exactly is your kind, you are like me but different." She said pointing to my skin.

"We call ourselves human. We are the dominant species with no other sentient beings on our planet to share it with. We are omnivores who went from the bottom to the top with the use of our brains, hands, flexible bodies, speech, ruthlesness, and endurance. We now rule the planet covering most of it." I said thinking of how she would take it.

"But if you cover the world then where is the nature?" She asked slighlty concerned.

"Much of it is gone with large and small pockets here and there." She gasped at this but knew she couldn't do anything about and so let it go for now.

"Do all humans look like you?" She asked, inspecting my eyes and hair.

"No in fact I am pretty unique in my world. Last I heard a good 90% of people have brown or black hair and brown eyes. We have races of people like Africans, Asians, Islanders, Native Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, and my own race Caucasions, there are more but those are just the major ones. All humans are either black, brown, tan, white, or subset of one of those colors. Caucasions are the only race with extreme diversity for some reason. We can have, in order from most common to least common, Black, brown, blonde which is a kind of golden yellow, and finally my color red hair. We also can have blue, green, brown, grey, or hazel eyes with green I think being the rarist. Most people with my hair have blue eyes and just about all of them have skin akin to mine, basically white. I haven't met many other males with red hair though. Most are female for some reason it seems. I think about 1.5% of the human population has red hair."

"Wow so much diversity packed into one race, but why only yours?"

"Not sure. There are a few theories but I don't know which one is right."

"Which race is the best?"

"What do you mean?"

"Which race is the best out of all the other races?"

"I don't think there is a best, well there shouldn't be at least. Internally we are all the same except for how smart we are but I personally think that is determined by how we are raised by our parents."

After that the conversation died a little bit and we sat there in awkwardness. Until finally she spoke up.

"I have a more, uh, personal question."

"I will answer it if is reasonable." I said with a wary expression.

"What kind of females do you like?" She asked, catching me by surprise, with a curious expression on her face.

"Well I uh, was never one for relationships back home never really having a serious one that lasted for more then a few weeks. But I guess I could say I am attracted to different. To be honest, physically, you sum it up pretty well, to me you are beautiful. I always liked blondes and red heads because they were different. Mentally I didn't really like dim people or jerks and always preffered motherly over extremely sexy for personality. Which is wierd since I like to play the role of protector, which doesn't work well with being slighlty babied. But it is just one of those things that never made sense." As I finished I looked over to her to see her slightly blushing. I decided a little teasing was in order

"Well what kind of males do you like?" I asked taking her by surprise much to my pleasure

"Well um you see...dryads are all female and we all look more or less exactly the same except for our eyes. We make young by planting a seed from our tree into the ground and then have our closest friend bless it." Well that was unexpected.

"Did you ever have a baby dryad?"

"No sadly. Physically I am only 25 and when the princesses left I was only about 12. So I never had a chance." She replied sadly. Man how many times am I going to make this women sad today! I thought to myself.

"When exactly did the princess' leave?" I asked curious.

"About a thousand years ago."

My jaw dropped. I did suspect that she aged like a tree which I knew could live for quite a long time in the right conditions but since she was twelve a thousnd years ago that means that she is almost 2 thousand by now.

"Y-your t-two thousand years old?!" I stuttered.

"No a little more then nineteen hundred, I dont remember the specifics. But like I said physically I am only 25."

I just stared at her for a second time in a few hours "Wow that is hard to digest."

"Why, does it bother you?" She asked concerned.

"No, not really just a little hard to handle." I said still trying to wrap my head around it.

After that the conversation lulled yet again. After a few moments I realized two things, one we had been talking and sitting for a few hours now and night would be here in a few and two we didn't know each others names.

"I am so embarrassed right now."

"Why?"

"We don't know each others names and know quite a bit about each other."

"Oh my, you are right. Well in that case my name is Areta."

"Sam" I held out my hand for a handshake. She looked confused by it but gave me her hand nonetheless and we shook with her eventually understanding.

"Friends" We both said at once.

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><p><strong>AN: And here is the fourth chapter. Do you like Deepfreeze's world building? Deepfreeze hopes you do because he is hoping to make it a major part of the story. Do you guys like the addition of Areta, whose name Deepfreeze will most likely forget, and use the original name he had for her by accident. Deepfreeze will eventually get back to the ponies hopefully within the next three chapters and hope to have everything story wise set up by the tenth. Yes Deepfreeze used Percy Jackson Greek fire, sue him (don't actually sue him please, he doesn't have any money). Deepfreeze would like to be informed of any and all fuck ups Deepfreeze has made in the grammatical department, he only skimmed the final product. Deepfreeze also used 'assets' because he felt weird typing 'large breasts' in the story, he also hopes that doesn't affect his T rating which he would like to keep for now, he doesn't know why it would but you never know. Deepfreeze will see ya on the flip side. (don't worry Deepfreeze will stop referring to himself in the third person by next chapter)**


	5. Chapter 5: Applejack's Plan

Applejack's POV (Right after window incident)

I couldn't believe what my brother just did. It wasn't like him at all and he seemed to revel in doing it as well. He just stood there looking out the window with a smile on his face.

After a few minutes he turned from the window and walked over to me and started to nuzzle me.

"Mac!" He flinched, he knew that voice.

"Yes, AJ?" He asked in slight fear, he may be the bigger pony but he knew to fear his sister.

"What in tarnation was that?" I asked while glaring at him.

"He hurt my sister and almost killed her from what I heard!" He said indignantly.

"It was an accident Mac." I stated bluntly. His huffy-face fell and was replaced with a look of slight confusion and slight sorrow.

"What do you mean?"

I spent the next few minutes or so recaping what I remembered and what I had been told.

Big mac looked crest-fallen not only had his sister hurt HERSELF in the end but the creature had went out of its way to get her to safety, having a little scuffle with Rainbow to boot.

"I'm sorry AJ I didn't know, I ran off before Rarity was done." He looked away, ashamed of his actions.

I tried to nuzzle him knowing that he was just trying to be a good big brother. "I know you were just trying to look out for me but you need to start thinking with your head, when it comes to matters of family, a little more." He sighed but nodded and finally nuzzled me back.

"For putting him through so much I wanted to repay him by having him stay with us for awhile till he could either figure out how to get home or get on his feet but I am afraid that he won't come near Ponyville again anytime soon with the way you scared him." I sighed as I finished telling Big mac about my plan.

"I think that would be a swell idea but I do have a question."

"Hmm?"

"Was he telling the truth?"

"One hundred percent, although he didn't tell us the whole truth I am sure of that." I said completely confident in my ability to judge people.

"Well we better get you home so you-"

**Knock Knock Knock**

"Applejack? May I come in?" said the familiar voice of Twilight.

"Come on in sugarcube." I called to her.

"Oh Applejack I was so worried, I bumped into Rarity while on my way home from sugar cube corner and she told me what happened. Are you alright?" She said as she came in and gave me a quick nuzzle.

"I won't get any worse but without a more knowledgeable unicorn doctor I will have to heal by myself for a few days. He got me well on my way but the bones have to have time to reconnect. I will be able to go home tomorrow and the next day I should be almost good as new. At least that is what the doctor said."

"I am sorry I can't do anything but I only know basic healing spells." Twilight said a little disappointed that she couldn't help her friend. "Oh, I almost forgot! Rarity needed to check on Sweetie belle and said she would be back in a few hours." I nodded understanding.

"It's alright but I will need your help when I am able to walk again. I need you to help me track down that creature."

"What creature?" She asked with a confused expression.

"Rarity didn't tell you?"

She shook her head "She only told me that you were injured and in the hospital, I assumed you injured yourself doing some work."

I sighed and then began relating the days events to Twilight and my plans for the creature.

"That is why I need your help, I can't track him like I would something else and the only other thing that I know that can is your magic. From what I could tell he had some weird bands on him that seemed to glow when he scuffled with Rainbow. By the way how is she doing?"

"I'm not sure do you want me to check?"

"Sure." Twilight teleported out and a few minutes later she was back.

"She is fine, just a little woozy from the hit she gave herself."

"That's good. So what do ya say?" I asked hopeful.

"For you AJ anything." Said Twilight. Big mac nodded as well signaling that he would help.

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><p><strong>AN: Eh, it is a short chapter I know but I was feeling lazy today, a lot of tests today at school. I just posted this to make the next few chapters make a little more sense. I like the idea of nuzzling as a sign of friendship. It is like when you are allowed to touch a friend (you don't just go up to a stranger and start touching them that would be weird but a friend would think nothing of it, assuming you don't do anything creepy like pet them). Twilight didn't teleport to Applejacks room because I am assuming doctors don't like it when they don't know someone is in there hospital. I also realized that Areta could be pronounced a few different ways, I personally pronounce it as Uh-ret(as in retina)-uh. Well that is all I have for now. See ya on the flip side.**


	6. Chapter 6: Uncomfortable Camping

Sam's POV

For the past few hours Areta and I had been setting up camp for ourselves in the glade. Me because I am a human and Areta because she had never slept anywhere but her tree and didn't want to lay out in the open.

Areta being a dryad and having lived in this forest for the last 1900 years knew it inside and out like the back of her hand, literally. She could walk through this part of the forest with ear plugs, nose plugs, and a blindfold and wouldn't even have to feel around. She was out getting some food for me while I set up the camp.

My grandfather had been a "True Man" in his words, knowing everything you could ever need to know to survive in a forest near indefinitely, assuming you didn't die from some disease. He had taught me everything he could. We would take bi-weekly trips to the forest and stay there until midday Sunday and then hike back to the diner about a mile from where we usually set up camp.

Each time we went we would set up a new camp much the same as the old one. Eventually when I got strong enough to lift the wood we needed on my own, he made me purely responsible for making camp while he got the food.

During the summer we would stay out there for a whole month where we would start with nothing but the cloths on our back, some protein bars, and two bottles of water. He was wierd like that but I loved him and now absolutely adored him for all he had taught me.

It still took about 3 hours but I had made a makeshift camp it wasn't anything spectacular but would due till I could build gather the right supplies and make the right tools to build a decent shelter.

We decided we were going to stay here for a week or two getting to know each other better and to figure out a plan of action since I knew this particular forest wasn't going to be able to support me. There wasn't enough wildlife for me to hunt nor was there any stream nearby that I could fish from, so I basically had no source of protein. I also could FEEL the evil that Areta said had killed her sisters and knew that it would try to take us out too, and now that the tree wasn't there anymore the evil was starting to slowly creep in and would take over this place within the month.

"Finished" I exclaimed proud of my work. I had made two tent like shelters out of limbs from the tree that hadn't been completely charred and covered them with some moss I had found hanging out near the edge of the glade. They were small enough to help keep us warm but also large enough so we wouldn't be squished. I had also made a firepit and gathered some wood and dry leaves to help start it.

It was then that Areta came back using part of her dress as a type of basket.

"Oh this looks comfortable... but why are there two of those things?" She asked confused and slightly sad having an idea of why there was another.

"One of the tents is for me and the other is for you, why?" I asked wondering why she seemed sad.

Her face fell at my answer "Well, its just that I always slept on my tree. Not one night was I alone."

"I don't think we know each other enough to sleep together." I said trying to emphasize my point

"Well we are bonded for life so why not start with this? We are friends after all." She said setting the berries down by the fire and missing my point entirely, that or just ignoring it.

"It would just be awkward. There isn't enough room in just one for us to have our own space. We would practically be right next to each other even if we were laying on our sides."

"It wouldn't be awkward for me. Besides you wouldn't want me getting cold now would you?" She said with giant pleading eyes. Damn she is good, we have only known each other half a day and she already knew how to get me to do what she wanted.

Knowing there was a better chance of me finding santa clause then winning this argument, I gave in. "Fine you can sleep with me. But only for tonight." Wow I just went over the conversation in my head and realized how bad it would be out of context.

She was ecstatic, she ran over and jumped on me wrapping her legs and arms around me giving me a gigantic hug. "Thank you!" She said a few times well hugging me. I hugged her back so as not to hurt her feelings. "Yeah yeah don't mention it." I said with a smirk.

Eventually she let go. I got the fire started and I started eating the berries. I noticed a few minutes later that she wasn't eating.

"Don't you want some?" I asked holding out a berry to her.

She shook her head "I don't need to eat as long as I have enough sunlight. I can still eat I just don't like the way it feels on my teeth and in my stomach."

"Oh, so you really are just a mobile tree aren't you." I said in a joking manner.

"Exactly." She said with the best poker face I had ever seen.

I just burst out laughing and eventually she joined in. A few minutes later we calmed down.

"Well, I guess it is time for bed." I said as I saw the moon peak over the trees.

I put a log on the fire for the night and motioned for Areta to follow me to the makeshift tent.

"Ok so how do you want to do this? Do you want to get in first and then have me wiggle in or do you want me to get in first and you wiggle in?" I asked her.

She pondered this for a moment. "You get in first and then I will wiggle in, much easier over all."

"Okay another question: Do you want to be back to back, back to front, or front to front?" I asked hoping she said back to back. I didn't want to be squished against her ample bosom for the night nor wake up in the morning accidentally fondling her. Don't judge me, there is never a thing called being too cautious. I also didn't want to get off to an even more bad start then had already happened.

She thought about this longer then she did the entrance plan. It wasn't until she noticed my squimishness that she made her decision. "My back to your front." She stated with a smirk on her face.

Damn, she is twisted when she wants to be. I was starting to regret telling her that she was beautiful and that I didn't do well around girls.

I sighed. "Alright."

I began crawling in the makeshift tent noticing that it was roomier then I initially thought. We might have been able to sleep shoulder to shoulder but that would have been too uncomfortable.

When I was done and got myself comfortable I told her I was ready.

She started wiggling and, I swear to god that she did this on purpose, rubbed every inch of her body that she could on me in the process. Man the images that ran through my head were not for children.

Eventually she got in and got comfortable snuggling as close to me as she could.

I had no idea where to put the hand that wasn't acting as my pillow. I could have used it aswell but thought that it would make it more uncomfortable for Areta. And I was just mentally kicking myself for being thoughtful.

Seemingly reading my mind she reached over, grabbed my hand and placed it on her stomach right below her bosom and layed her own across it. It was then that I realized that we were spooning.

Great now I don't want to go to sleep, I am afraid of what my mind and my body will do during the night.

"You planned this didn't you?"

"Why what ever are you talking about?"

I sighed and decided to just go with the flow. I fidgeted around for a few seconds and finding a comfortable position decided to just relax and fall asleep and eventually I did.

I didn't get too much sleep when I woke up to slight quiet sobs. It took me a few moments but I realized I wasn't holding on to Areta anymore and was staring at the wall of moss.

I tried twisting around quietly but it didn't work and when I was on my back the sobbing stopped suddenly. I knew she knew I was awake and that she knew I knew that she knew.

"Why are you crying?" I asked finally turning over and putting my hand on her shoulder.

"Yo-you turned away as soon as you went to sleep. You don't want me." She said, her voice cracking telling me she had been crying for awhile.

I felt bad. Sure I knew that I can't control my body while I am asleep but I felt bad nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too. Come on why dont we make a bed to sleep on outside?" At one point you need to stop using excuses and try to take responsibility, and this was one of those times.

"A bed?" She asked turning over to face me.

"Come on i'll show you." I said as I sat up throwing the makeshift shelter off of us.

"Where is the softest spot?" I asked.

"Right over there." She answered, pointing to an area by the fallen tree.

"Ok then, grab the moss from the other shelter." She nodded and I grabbed the moss from ours.

We took them over to the soft spot and I layed mine down. I told her I would be back and set out for some more. I eventually returned a few minutes later with some moss I had managed to roll into a sort of long cylindrical pillow. I placed it down and grabbed the moss she was holding.

"Lay down on the moss." I said and she eventually complied.

I spread out the moss around her like a blanket and when I was done climbed in myself.

"There now we have some room."

She looked crestfallen until she felt me pull her to me. She looked at me in confusion.

"I am your friend Areta, don't think for a second that I don't want you." I said sternly.

She just nodded and layed her head on my chest, a smile on her face. Eventually we fell asleep, her having her fears officially quelled and me thinking that I could get used to this.

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><p><strong>AN: Yeah I realized a misstep in my research. I was telling my friend about the story and when I got to the part about Areta he pointed out that dryads ARE the trees, literally. They become them not care for them. He told me everything else about Areta was possible so I will just stick with what I have. Mythology is extremely flexible especially Greek, some stories have like 15 different versions so I will just use that to my advantage. Yeah I know, a little sappy but to be honest I like sappy, well decent sappy. I am not a real out doorsy kind of person so I don't know if it is safe or not to sleep in moss. I don't really feel like doing hours of research on moss so for this story it is. See ya on the flip side.**


	7. Chapter 7: Bands of War

**A/N: Just a quick one before you start reading. When I started the second chapter I knew that eventually Sam was going to end up in the everfree forest and I knew how he was going to get back out. The only problem is I had all this figured out before I even thought of Areta, so now I am having a hard time figuring out what I want to have happen so sorry if this chapter is a little more disjointed then usual.**

* * *

><p>Sam's POV<p>

As I feared sleeping together was a bad idea. The only other person who had slept in a bed with me was my sister on the nights she was scared and that was quite a long time ago.

We woke up in a really awkward positions that separate were normal for us but together really messed us up.

I woke up like usual with my cheek buried in the moss and laying on my stomach, but Areta also slept like this only on the limbs of her tree so she wasn't used to laying on completely flat surfaces and so sometime during the night she had climbed on top of me and wrapped her arms around my torso while I was facedown which seriously messed up my back and deadened her arms so much that she wouldn't feel them for hours to come.

When I realized that there was something moving on top of me I rolled over quickly throwing Areta from my back who rolled onto her back while I rolled on top of her.

"Why can't I feel my arms and why are you on top of me?" She asked. It was then that I realized the position we were in. I quickly got off of her with a slight blush and helped her up while apologizing and explaining.

We sat back down to wake up a little more. I cracked my back to help alleviate some of the soreness.

"Are you okay?!" Areta asked, worried that something had broken.

"A little sore from you sleeping on me but nothing I can't deal with."

"Oh, sorry about that. Old habits die hard." She said with a sheepish smile.

"No worries." I said smiling at her.

"Well maybe I can do something to help. Whenever my try was hurt I could help it heal, maybe I can do the same for you."

"Sure, why not." I said as I got up, walked over to her then layed down on my stomach.

She straddled me and put her hands on my shoulders. A few seconds later they started glowing a cobalt blue. "Hmm, well that's new. The color used to be the same as my trees leaves." She said but shrugged it off.

She began rubbing my shoulders and eventually worked her way up and down my back kneading and applying pressure to muscles and my spine. All the while I just layed there basking in the warmth and tenderness of her hands.

A few minutes later she was done and I felt great. Still wasn't that comfortable with all the touching but I didn't want to make a big deal about it and knew that I eventually would get used to it.

We kind of did our own thing for most of the day. She started collecting more varieties of plants for me to eat for our trip and I gathered the resources I would need to make some basic tools and maybe some sort of carrying pouch. Eventually we came back together about an hour before sundown. I restarted the fire and set on making the tools we needed. We talked while I worked. Mostly about each other some more. We still had a lot to learn about each other and wanted to be as close as possible before setting out.

Eventually night time rolled around and we went to bed. The next morning going smoother then the last. We woke up in much the same way we went to bed the first night with her laying her head on my chest and me with my arm around her. She didn't bring up the one night sleeping condition which I was glad for. I really like sleeping with someone.

"Morning" I said sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Good morning" She said while yawning and stretching.

"What are we doing today?" She asked, curious about how she would be spending the day.

"While you gathered quite a few edible plants yesterday so we shouldn't have to get more until the day before we leave, and I gathered most of the resources I need. So what I was wondering was if you could tell me more about my bands?"

She collected her thoughts for a moment before she answered "While I don't know a lot but I know their basic purpose. They were meant to give non-magical beings a chance to survive. I know ponies weren't always the only dominant species in Equestria, there was another. It looked like us but it also had a tail and horns. They weren't very useful though. The tail wasn't dexterous enough to grip anything nor was it any use in balance being too light and the horns were very short. The were very weak compared with the rest of Equestria's inhabitants. Most other creatures were either stronger or faster and with ponies having both magic and intelligence they didn't really have any advantage that they could exploit. The ponies took pity on them and crafted the bands. Only about 3 dozen were made before the only one who could make them died. Apparently the bands had an unfortunate side-effect. If a pair were created a part of the creators soul had to be fused into them. The craftsman didn't know this and died from making so many. Eventually they were dubbed meta-morphs by the creatures. They took them graciously and gave them to greatest males and females in their species. But unfortunately a pair was given to the most dangerous one. A male whose name I do not know. He slaughtered the other meta-morph holders until him and another remained. Another male whose arsenal rivaled the evil one. They eventually clashed the good one was killed. The evil one had been driven insane by the amount of power he held within him. He then proceeded to slaughter every other male he could find trying to make sure that all sons were his sons. Eventually the male population nearly ceased to exist. With a male to female ratio of about 1 to 3,000 or so. Along the way he raped every women he could find time with. He left dozens upon dozens of children. He eventually died of old age and the last pair of bands disappeared like the others. Eventually the species became too weak and died out within a few dozen generations." She explained. Finally done with her mini history lesson she sighed remembering what her mother had told her.

"So these are cursed then?" I asked realizing that every creature that had been given a band had met a terrible fate.

"Not exactly, no. It is what you do with them that makes them evil or good. Supposedly the darker your band gets the more evil and wicked you are, the brighter the band the better you are."

"So how exactly do they work?" I asked wanting to try and test out what I had already acquired.

"I don't know to be honest, I was only getting started in my lessons on magical artifacts."

"Well then how did you know about these? They are obviously very powerful and no longer exist besides mine."

"That is the whole reason I know of them. Dryads believed that if you forget about something that can harm you, what it can do is multiplied ten-fold because no one knows how to stop it or deal with it." She said.

I tried to see the problem in that type of reasoning but to be honest it was actually pretty sound. It had a meaning akin to the quote about history repeating itself.

"That kind of thinking is actually pretty smart now that I think about it." I said with admiration at the natural intelligence the Dryad's seemed to possess.

Getting back to the subject at hand I continued the previous conversation "Is there anything you can tell me about them that might help me learn more?"

"Some stories mentioned the evil creature constantly meditating and talking to himself while he did so. You could try that." She suggested.

"I'll give it a shot." I said.

I got into a meditative position, well what I assumed was one. I tried slowing my breathing and heart rate while at the same time focusing on the bands. Eventually I felt a little pull in my mind. I tried to go with it but just couldn't focus.

I tried this for about an hour. "Ahhhh!" I yelled in frustration, startling Areta who had started day dreaming. "What, what's going on?" She asked a little confused.

"I can't do it. I feel like something wants to happen but I just can't seem to get calm or focused enough to let myself go." I stated in an aggravated tone.

"Maybe the bands only respond to shows of power?" She suggested.

"Might be but that usually means something is evil in my world. If you have to show your power then whatever it is that forces you to show it wants to know what you can and can't do." I stated now slightly worried about what I was getting myself into.

"Don't worry I will be right next to you the whole time." She said as she scooted over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder comfortingly.

I nodded and tried again. Just like last time I eventually felt the pull but instead of letting it take me I resisted. That was when I got a response, it pulled harder. I resisted even more and then it pulled even harder. We went back and forth like this for what felt like hours but was only about 5 minutes. Eventually it stopped pulling and my eyes suddenly shot open revealing a something other then the glade.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey everyone here is another chapter. This was the last one that I actually had a schedule for, so expect updates erratically from now on. I originally wanted this to be one whole chapter with the next one but like I said up top had difficulty with weaving Areta into the meeting between Sam and the others and decided to mentally rejuvenate over the weekend before I attempt it. I noticed that more people have read "Applejack's plan" then "Nature's new best friend" which disappoints me a little. It may not be the best thing out there but it has a lot of exposition and context in it for the story. I was actually kind of proud of that chapter to be honest. I think I did a decent job on it and the fact that people seem to skip over it saddens me a little. Enough with the pity party lets move onto other things shall we. I don't exactly know what to do with the story at the moment. I could have a fairly large over-arching plot that I could develop just with the bands. And I could do even more with a Dryad arch. But at the same time I don't want the romance to take a back seat. That is one of my pet peeves when reading a romance story along with harems and dancing around the subject of romance between the two main characters for most of the story. I will need time to think on this so after the next chapter it might be awhile before I get another out. I would like your guys' thoughts on this. The next chapter will definitely have Sam, Areta, and Applejack meeting up. There will be action, real action not the stuff I did between Rainbow and Sam which was like a slap fight with feather dusters. See ya on the flip side.**


	8. Chapter 8: The battle of Nature

Sam's POV

**A/N: Another quick beginning one. I am sorry if the description of where Sam is, is very weird or is hard to understand. I had a lot of trouble trying to explain it so if people have a problem with it I will think of something else. Also, exposition by the truck load. I am American so I will be using measurements like miles and inches for the most part. I am taking physics at the moment so the metric system might slip through every once in a while.**

When I opened my eyes all I saw was white. I was standing on a platform I couldn't see.

I looked around and noticed a white desk with someone who looked exactly like me sitting in a desk chair with his feet up on the desk, head back, and probably sleeping.

"Hey, where am I?" I called to him.

He raised his head and looked at me with pure cobalt blue eyes. "You're in the bands numbnuts, don't you remember the last thing you were trying to do?".

I didn't know what to say to that so I chose to ignore it.

"Ok then, WHAT is this place?"

"This place is our training ground and the place where we can actually speak freely to each other." He said. All of a sudden an uncomfortable looking chair appeared in front of the desk. He motioned for me to sit in it.

"What do you mean speak freely? Can we only communicate in here?" I asked noticing his choice of words.

"We can communicate in other places besides here but I can't speak to you except to warn you of danger or if you ask me a direct question. You remember that little voice in your head when that blue pony was about to tackle you? Well that was me." He stated, then gestured to a screen that appeared out of no where and showed my brief scuffle with Rainbow. I noticed that he was on my shoulder the whole time in it. It disappeared when the clip finished.

"And this training ground is the place where I come to hone my skills?" I asked starting to pick up on exactly what was happening.

"Yup, every power you absorb gets catalogued in here and is available for your use here. You can use any of your powers almost indefinitely unless one of us puts some sort of temporary restriction on it. Time in here passes three times as fast as the time out in the real world so you can get much more done. Don't worry about staying in here for too long. If your body needs to do something that requires your consciousness' assistance then a warning will appear and you can leave to go take care of it. Any more questions Mr. Curiosity?" He said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"A few actually. Who or what are you?" I wanted to get as much information as possible.

"I am one of your emotional incarnations the bands thought would be able to best help you. I, personally, am your compulsiveness. Not really an emotion but a strong part of your character nonetheless."

"Why are your eyes pure blue?"

"It is the band's aura color. It takes on anything having to do with them. If you obtain magic it will be blue as well."

"What powers do I already have?"

"From the unicorn you took her aura eyes. You didn't get her magic because the bands knew that her's was not right for you. Her type of magic is more having to do with focus than actual power which is not your strong suit and would clash with your personality. From that Big red pony you got strength. From the orange one you got truth-seeking. From the Pegasus you got speed. Now the tree is a different matter. You have its aura, or more specifically life force, now. This means that now you have the abilities of plants in general. You can photosynthesis, regenerate, and you are much more sturdy. However you also absorbed the life force of a dryadic tree, which means you get even more. You can bend plants to your will so long as in doing so you don't hurt an innocent being and you might be able to heal others, I am not for sure yet on that one. All of these will come the most naturally to you and you will most likely master these powers long before the others. You can also use these powers with each other and one other power. That is the downside to the bands. You may only use one power at a time unless you can find a creature that is some sort of combination of two or more distinct creatures whose powers you already have which, while Equestria is diverse, is a challenge since most of the creatures in our world that combine to make the creatures here are not found here. You may switch between powers at will but until you get used to it in the real world it will tire you quickly. That is one of the few things that I suggest you keep the same as the real world while here so it won't surprise you in one of your first few fights. Next question."

"Is there a limit to the amount of powers I can have?"

"Not that I have seen in my brothers, even though only two of them got more than a couple."

"Is there a way to take off the bands?"

"No, they stay with you till you die. Then they wait for a worthy host. Each band has its own agenda. Some want to cause terror while others want to stop it. Some just don't want to be used."

"Do the bands affect my mind at all?" This question's answer frightened me slightly.

"Not really. You will still be you but if you have any physical defects like maybe a crack in the skull they will resolve that. You also think faster now. This change only happens so you can switch between powers with relative mental ease and won't get confused."

"Are the powers classified in any way?" He had a surprised look on his face when I asked him this.

"Actually yes. Power's are classified under either physical, magical, fundamental, or elemental. Magical is a broad category that includes most things that don't fall under the other three. Physical and elemental explain themselves. Fundamental is the most rare. Things like gravity manipulation and electro-magnetism; stuff that alters the fabric of reality basically or pertain to the four fundamental forces of the universe, it is also used to categorize things that affect the bands. None of the other band wearers asked such a question as far as I know. Maybe you aren't a moron like the others." He said with a slight smirk.

"If I was wouldn't that make you moron as well?" This wiped the look of his face.

He started to say something but decided against it.

"Anymore questions?" He said, a little irritated now.

"One more. Why did I get these bands when I got to Equestria? Shouldn't I have found them?"

"Well you see... you coming to Equestria wasn't the thing that caused you to get the bands. You getting the bands is what caused you to come here. They can't exist anywhere else but here and would be useless in our old universe." He said a little sheepishly.

"So I really am stuck here then?"

"Pretty much. Sorry but this Meta-morph chose you to be its host and you don't reject the bands."

"Ok then. That is all the questions I have for now. When do we start training?"

"First we need to lay down some ground rules before we go any further. This Meta-Morph, whose name is Cobalt by the way, is an angelic band. This means that he is against heinous acts. He will try to stop you from using him to hurt others who have done nothing wrong but if you choose to do so then it happens. The only thing that can stop you is yourself or someone or something just as strong as you are. He would prefer it if you would respect his wishes." I nodded my agreement and understanding.

"Good, rule two. You only have a certain amount of usage with these bands at any time. They are like a muscle, the more you use them the stronger they get but they can only handle so much. Cobalt right now is very weak compared to what he could be and you will need to train with him quite a bit to get everything down, so take your time. Don't go off and try to slay a dragon your first week because you will probably lose."

"Third rule. Absorbing powers is draining. You were lucky you absorbed that dryadic tree's aura or else you would be exhausted for a few days. The most per day is two. Go over that and it gets tiring exponentially and if you absorb too many in one day you could very well die."

He saw my confused look and decided to enlighten me. "Think of it this way: each power is a point. The bands can easily hold the first two powers. The third power though, is worth two points then the fourth is worth 4 and the fifth is worth 8. And the bands can only comfortably hold two at a time. Eventually they can't take it anymore and shut down with you going with them. The bands need time to process new powers. You can use a power right after you get it, it just won't be as strong as it will be once it has been processed. The processing happens when you are in here or sleeping." He said.

He waited for me to finish mulling it around and when I finally nodded to him he continued.

"Fourth rule. You can absorb more of a power from its source but this is dangerous and rarely ever works. It is the reason why, when Areta touched your band, you felt immense pain. The bands were trying to absorb more when they already had the maximum. But now you know of this and can set up mental blocks to prevent it from happening by accident."

"Now the last and most important rule. Do not, under any circumstance, touch Cobalt to a satanic Meta-morph. The only equal in our mind that could come close is the power of a supernova. The bands are one of, if not the most, powerful pieces of equipment in this universe and having two opposite pairs connect would literally fuck everyone's shit up, permanently. Although no other bands are active right now I still can't stress this enough. Don't do it. There are still creatures much more powerful than the bands but compare a full-fledged Meta-morph to another piece of equipment and you will see how much more powerful they really are." I nodded once again to show my understanding of the situation.

We sat there for a while. I was thinking about what these bands could do while the other me was thinking about how he could train me.

I snapped out of my little day-dream. "So can we start training now?"

"Sure." He snapped his fingers and the furniture disappeared. He snapped his fingers again and a board came up out of what I was assuming was the ground. On it was a list of my powers each with a bar next to it and a status saying 'Integrated' next to all of them. Some of them like sturdiness and aura eyes were already slightly filled but nowhere near even the quarter mark. I had a lot of work to do.

"By the way what is your name?" I asked realizing yet again that I hadn't asked someone their name upon meeting them.

"You can call me pulse. As in Compulsive." He said while staring at the board.

He snapped his fingers again and a type of console appeared along with another board and another office chair. The second board showed my vitals and had two columns and a bunch of rows on it filled with an assortment of percentages and numbers. Most on the right side had a percentage of zero while most of the left columns rows were filled with numbers and their units. I recognized the unit abbreviations for newtons and pounds per square inch among other things. The rest were filled with my vitals like my stamina and strength. Which had percentages on their right column counterparts.

"First lets work on shifting between different powers. All you have to do is think of the name and you will be able to use it. Alright go!"

I jumped at his shout and thought of the first thing that came to my mind: Speed. I ran not expecting to go from 0 to 60 in about 0.5 seconds. I was off and just ran when all of a sudden I saw the board come up out of nowhere and hit it at about 80 mph.

Pulse started laughing his head off and fell to the ground almost in tears. I got up and walked over to him waiting for him to either pop a lung or calm down. A few minutes later he got up.

"Man that was great. You just disappeared for a second then suddenly I hear a gigantic thud and look back and see your ass on the floor behind the board. I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while. You did do well though. You got to about 83 mph. You will only be able to move that fast in large open areas but at that rate you will still be able to move about two times faster than a regular human in close quarters." He paused for a second then yelled "Strength!"

I quickly thought about strength and my muscles started getting bigger. Almost to twice their regular size. All of a sudden I hear a whistling and look up. I just had enough time to bring my arms up to attempt to catch the car that was falling. I put my arms up but I wasn't any where near strong enough and it basically crushed me. A few seconds later the car disappeared and I stood up feeling fine.

"Okay then, maybe we need to get you a little more efficient with strength. You put up about 350lbs. of resistance. Not nearly enough to stop a car from falling on you but much more than the average human male. Although I would say with your build now that seems a little weak. We definitely have to work on it."

"Regeneration!" He yelled.

"What?" Was all I could say before a gigantic blade came down and into my foot effectively separating everything from my heel. I didn't feel any pain and the severed part faded away. But there was this immense pressure I got in my brain that made it hard for me to focus.

"Come on Sam. There isn't any pain right now but the longer you wait the more pressure builds up." Pulse said in an instructor-esque tone.

I tried with everything I had to focus on my foot being replaced. Eventually my foot started to grow back. When it was done I sighed in relief.

"Good. You seem to have a knack for switching between power's. That should help you get accustomed to switching in the real world. I will need some time to devise other tests right now so come back in a few hours, real-time, and we can continue." He stated. He waved me off and I thought about being back in my real body. I closed my eyes for a few minutes and when I opened them back up I was back in the glade.

Areta had her head on my shoulder and arms wrapped around my left, sleeping. I looked up at the sky and noticed that it was a little past noon. I hadn't realized I was in there for so long.

I gently shook my should trying to wake Areta. Eventually she stirred. She opened her eyes and looked at me. When she realized who woke her she smiled.

"How did it go?" She asked, curious.

"It went pretty well"

I started explaining to her what had happened and about how everything worked to the best of my knowledge.

"Wow so much power in such plain little accessories. I wonder if anything could stop you when you finally get to full power."

"Probably. Pulse did say that there are creatures out there that are far superior to the bands."

"Well lets not think about that right now. You need to eat and I need to stretch my legs." She said as she got up to take a walk.

I got up as well and went to the fire. I lighted it for the third time and started roasting some plants. It wasn't long till they were done. I was almost done eating them when Areta came running out of the forest with four of those ponies behind her. She was yelling Timber wolves. That was when I saw the near army of wolf like creatures running out of the forest.

Areta ran to me and hid behind me while the ponies got to my side. The creatures just streamed out of the forest and formed a circle around us effectively cutting off any escape.

"What the hell did you do?!" I yelled at the group of ponies who had by now, along with me, formed our own circle around Areta. Who looked absolutely terrified.

The orange one, who I recognized from earlier as the one I had fallen on, gave me a quick rundown of the past few hours.

Early this morning Applejack's POV

I had woke up this morning finally feeling better. I could tell I was almost healed and that today was the day for me and the others to go looking for the human.

I got myself presentable and went downstairs. I met up with Big mac and we prepared our supplies for the next few days. We had no idea how far the human had gotten and didn't want to take any chances. We told Granny smith where we were going and what we were doing. We hadn't told Applebloom since we didn't want her and the other crusaders to follow us for whatever reason.

Once we were done packing we said goodbye and left. We headed straight for Twilight's library. We arrived a few minutes later.

I knocked on the door and Twilight answered.

"Good morning." She said a little sleepily.

"Todays the day Twilight. Are you ready to leave?" I asked not entirely sure she had remembered, or packed for that matter, since Spike had left for Canterlot to aid princess Luna with some assignment.

"Yeah I'm ready." She said as she levitated a saddlebag to her and put it on.

"We got one other pony to visit before we set off." I said.

We started walking towards Rainbow's cloud house and once we were there I called up to her.

"Hey Rainbow, we're ready! Let's go!"

"I'm coming, just a sec." Rainbow replied.

A few minutes later she flew down and landed between me and Big mac.

"Let's go." She stated, eager to find the human she had attacked and apologize.

Twilight lit up her horn and set her magic on us looking for any residual magic left there by the human's bands. She eventually found some and cast a tracker spell. Her horn lit up and got brighter when she faced the direction the human was in.

We were all surprised when we noticed that it glowed brightest when she faced the Everfree.

We made our way to the forest which took about an hour because Twilight had forgotten to pack a few things. Eventually we made it to the forest but we just stopped and stared at it, not wanting to go in. I was the first to recover.

"Come on everypony we already wasted enough time. It's an hour to midday and we still have to get through the forest." I said trying to get everypony motivated.

"Applejack's right. The sooner we find the human the sooner we can go home." Rainbow stated. That finally got us all motivated and we set off. We had walked for about an hour when I suddenly smelled something I had hoped to never smell again.

"Anypony else recognize that smell?" I asked, scared. I could tell just from the sheer intensity and how suddenly it appeared that there were a lot. Much more than we could handle right now.

"Yeah, I do." Twilight said trembling.

Suddenly one leaped out followed by about half a dozen more. We all just stared at them. Soon I noticed that we weren't alone. Many more eyes glowed in the dark foliage.

"Guys, we need to run. Fast" I whispered.

Everyone nodded. "On the count of three." a pause "Three!" I yelled and we all took off running. Twilights horn glowing brighter and brighter till we came upon a glad and saw the human with what appeared to be another human running towards him. We ran up to them and formed the circle and the human asked his question.

Present time Sam's POV

"There ya have it" The orange one finished.

"Why are there so many. A pack is only about 5 or 6 together. This looks to be about 40 to 50." The purple one stated.

"It's me. They want me. Ever since my tree died the Timber wolves started gathering from throughout the forest. They want me gone so they can claim this spot in the forest." Areta said urgently.

"Well to get to you they are gonna have to fight me to my last heartbeat." I said protectively.

"Well that's fine and dandy but if you haven't noticed it is 10 to 1 here." The blue one pointed out.

"Then we go down swinging." I said getting my strength ready. Man it was tiring doing this in the real world.

The wolves attacked a few at a time as there wasn't enough room for all of them to attack at once. The other wolves just held a tight circle until it was there turn.

One wolf leaped at me with another right behind it. My mind went into over-drive. I caught the first one out of the air and, using its momentum, spun around slammed it into the other one. I could feel their abilities go into my bands. I felt their names appear in my head. Duplication and Agility.

Three more came using a different tactic. Two went to the sides while one ran down the middle. The one in the middle got to me first and I threw a close-handed slap its way breaking it in mid-air while the other two jumped. I used the momentum from my first slap to continue and obliterate the one on my left. This gave the one of my right an opening and he took it. He landed on me and bit into my shoulder. Good thing my strength increased my durability. Though it still wasn't enough to keep it from piercing the skin. I cried out and grabbed its head and threw it, in one motion, into the crowd destroying two more along with it. That was when I started to get lost in the fight.

I jumped into the crowd of wolves just flailing and went into a sloppy role destroying a few more. I stood up quickly and threw my fist around me in a circle instantly destroying the few who lunged at me. I started running through the crowd with my arms up running into wolf after wolf after wolf. Along the way I could feel them get in a few bites and claws here and there but nothing too major. When I stopped I noticed I had destroyed around half of the pack already.

"These bands are amazing."

I noticed the others weren't doing too well. The orange one was bucking like crazy but was getting tired since only a full buck from her would destroy one and she had to keep doing it just to keep from getting over run. The red one was getting jumped upon every few seconds. They weren't giving him time to buck as once he had gotten one off of his back another one appeared almost out of thin air to take its place. The blue one was laying on the ground several feet away from the fight. She looked like she had a broken wing and one of her front hooves was at a weird angle. She looked to be unconscious. The purple one was blasting away but for some reason the ones she blasted kept coming back together. She was tiring fast. But when I looked at Areta my blood boiled. On top of her was one of the bigger ones. She was trying to hold it off with her arms but she was quickly losing the strength to do so and in a matter of minutes it would clamp its jaws around her neck.

I lost it. I yelled as loud as I could. Changing to speed I zoomed over, picked up the wolf, looked it in its eyes, changed to strength, and chucked it out of the glade.

I went into to a hyper state switching between strength and speed and the newly acquired agility. In a matter of moments all the creatures were destroyed.

I came out of my adrenaline induced hyper state and looked around for Areta. She was by the log of her old tree huddled in the fetal position.

I ran over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"It's okay they are all gone now." I said comfortingly. She leaped up and into my arms crying and holding me. I just sat there and comforted her until she calmed down a few minutes later.

The purple one came up to me "We should get out of her, they could reform at anytime."

"I can't go back to the village. I was banished by this large red pony with an orange mane." I said not realizing that who I referred to was the red one with them.

"You mean me." He said, startling me.

Well lets just say I was a little frightened "Look I am not in ponyville and you went near me. I don't want any trouble please just let me and Areta be." I pleaded not wanting another fight after being in one so draining. To be honest at the moment I think a rabbit could take me without a sweat.

"I came here to apologize." He said. My worry being replaced with confusion.

"Why? I landed on your sister while she was doing her job on her farm. I just did what any decent person would do."

"You where in a strange world surrounded by strange creatures, one of whom already attacked you while you tried to help. You didn't know you were on our farm and you went somewhere that you knew you would be uncomfortable with to help my sister. When I first saw you I bucked you out of a window without a second thought or first thought really. I should be the one who is sorry." He stated.

I was about to retort when I heard the purple one speak "Uh everypony... it's back." She said with obvious terror in her voice. The creature was about 12 feet tall with, what appeared to be, ginormous paws. She fired off a bolt of magic but it just bounced off. The orange one was holding the blue one and couldn't do anything. The one I was talking to charged but was swatted away into a tree causing him to fall unconscious.

It lumbered towards me and Areta with a glare that could melt the paint of a wall. I stood up between the thing and Areta knowing that she was its target. It raised its hand and brought it down.

"Fuck my life-" Was all I could get out before it swatted me away as well, clear across the glade.

I landed and rolled violently to a stop on my back. I was dazed and all I felt was pain, I could also taste my blood. Every breath hurt and I knew some ribs were broken. I was lucky he had a paw almost as big as I was or else he probably would have broken my spine as well.

"_Get up dipshit you have some fighting to do." _I heard pulse say.

"I thought you could only warn me of danger." I said to him.

"_I forgot to tell you I can communicate with you while _in_ combat as well._"

"Awesome. Well what do I do?"

"_You fight Sherlock. I thought that would be obvious."_ He stated like he couldn't believe how dumb I was.

"How do you propose I do that?" I asked him.

"_Look at Areta."_ He stated evenly.

I turned my head and all I saw was the beast and Areta. It had backed her into a corner and was getting ready to finish her off, seemingly enjoying his nemesis' downfall.

That pushed me over the edge. I found a new source of power and got up. I turned on the speed and sprinted. I was there in less than a second. I jumped and changed in midair from speed to strength and threw a punch as hard as I could into the beast's shoulder, blowing its arm off of it. I tucked into a roll and stopped next to Areta on my feet.

"Get the ponies out of here. I will buy you some time with tall, dark, and smelly." I said starting to realize how good it felt to taunt my opponent, who by now, had recovered from the loss of its arm.

She ran past it but it knew to keep its gaze on me. If it was going to get to Areta it had to put me 6 feet under.

We were now a good 15 feet apart the beast having staggered away clutching its arm.

It charged and cleared the gap in about three steps and swung its left arm. I caught it much to both our surprise. "Oh man you are so screwed." I said.

I then started turning, dragging the creature with me. I spun faster and faster until it was up off the ground flying through the air. I knew I needed to end this as my new-found energy was fading quickly and the less I had of it the weirder I felt. A few more revolutions and I let go sending it flying over trees. It crashed about 150 ft away, I assumed.

My job done I slumped to the ground. Unconscious, broken, tired, and relieved.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow that was the longest one yet by far. It is about 5,500 words. My second highest was half that. This one to be honest was difficult to write, I kept having to take breaks while doing so. I like how this chapter turned out though. I really hope this chapter makes sense, I read it over a few times but there is bound to be something that I left out and my mind just fills it in for me. That is the only problem with proof-reading your own story. You already know everything about it so if you forget to put something in your mind will usually fill it in for you. I would also like to point out that unless it is clearly stated in one of the chapters it is not canon. I thought about this when I was brain-storming ideas for the story since I have, more or less, decided what I want to do with it. The first chapter had some things in it that aren't canon right now since I edited them out. So if some of you who follow this story have read version 1.0 of chapter one then some things might not make all that much sense in future chapters. Yeah I know the swearing basically died out but Sam never really needed to swear until now so that is the reason there has been a lull in it. I didn't use the pony's names because I personally would not remember someone's name after the first time they told me it. Hell, I have been sitting with a dude at lunch for the past few weeks and still don't know his name. I know much of the first half of the chapter was filled with information about the bands but I got creative and didn't want to forget anything so I wrote it down, edited it three or four times for context, and put it in. If you need me to explain anything PM and I will be happy to help. See ya on the flip side.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Deal

Sam's POV

"Hey numbnuts, wake up."

I felt a small kick to my side. I groaned as I sat up and opened my eyes.

"Pulse?"

"The one and only." He said with a bow.

"Am I back in the bands?" I asked noticing my surroundings

"What gave you that impression? The completely white and undefined landscape or that you can see me and are talking to me at the same time." He said with a hint of snark.

"Good point. Now stop being a dick and tell me why." I said, starting to get annoyed by his attitude.

"Well, you retarded monkey-" He started before he saw my glare.

"I'm serious, the reason you are in here is because you were indeed, acting like a mentally handicapped monkey." I waved for him to continue.

"When you fought the combined Timber wolf monster you tapped into your life force, not the bands power. You almost nearly killed yourself in your second, well maybe first, fight. Thus I dub you retarded monkey." He stated with a smile while crossing his arms.

"Well for one YOU are the expert on these things. YOU should have told me what I was doing, you said it yourself as long as I am in combat we can speak freely. I didn't know what I was doing and you egged me on to do it." I said countering him.

"I said fight, I didn't say to do anything else. YOU yourself tapped into your own life force as a power source. You were lucky you finished that fight when you did, any longer and you would have literally burned up." He said defensively.

We argued for a few more minutes about whose fault it was. Eventually we decided to drop it.

"Okay new question, why exactly am I in the bands?" I asked.

"You are healing and will be done in a few hours. When you are unconscious I can turn on certain powers. Right now you are slowly regenerating. You have been unconscious for the past few days in the real world so expect some side effects like hyper-fatigue, memory lapse, paralyzation, and a small cold." He stated with a poker face.

"Dude, what the fuck! I thought you said you were regenerating me!" I shouted angrily at Pulse.

"I can't regenerate your soul moron! Remember you burned most of it up while fighting that abomination of nature. That is the reason for the symptoms. You also not having eaten a meal fit for a human in about a week also contributes to the hyper-fatigue. I suggest when you wake up you get us some protein and actual vegetables and fruit. All you have eaten in the past few days are nutrients ment for a pony and plants our species hasn't eaten on a regular basis for thousands of years." He said getting irritated now.

"Fine. Wait... you said I was eating pony nutrients. What do you mean?" I asked, curious.

"You are in the ponyville hospital hooked up to one of their IV's. The nutrients in it sustain you but all the nutrients you get, mainly from meat and nuts, you haven't been getting much of. Trust me go get some meat like a rabbit or something or if you can't find something they will allow you to eat get some nuts, those should tide you over for the time being."

"Okay then, with that answered give me a rundown of what has happened since the fight."

"When you fell unconscious Areta ran over to you. At first she tried healing you but her magic was never meant for anything more serious than a few cuts and bruises, maybe a sprain if she pumped enough magic in. Eventually the ponies found you. The purple one, whose name I have learned to be Twilight, picked you up with her magic. They then took you and Rainbow dash, the blue one, to ponyville hospital. There Areta told them about your anatomy as best she could but they didn't have the right nutrients and never got around to getting them, the lazy assholes. For the past few days you have been getting healing spells along with me turning on you regeneration. Areta hasn't left your side. Applejack, the one you fell on, wants to speak with you when you finally wake up. Your body will be healed but your mind will be a little fuzzy. The memory lapses should be few and far between and should only last about a day after you wake up. The paralyzation will only be around for about an hour while your regenerated soul tries to get reaccustomed to your body. The cold you will have for a while as that is just a regular cold."

"Is Areta okay?" I asked remembering the reason I fought the creature in the first place.

"She is fine. She had some bruising on her arm from the wolf you threw off her but other then that she came out of that fine."

"Good. I have a question, what would have happened to Areta if I had died?"

"I'm not sure. One of two things could happen: The bands, when they disappear, might still support Areta's life force until she naturally dies but I won't know how she will age if that happens. We still don't know how you will age being connected to her. The second thing that could happen is that she dies."

**Rumble**

"What was that?" I asked.

"Two things. The first is that Cobalt says you will be waking up soon so get ready, the second is that if you and Cobalt become a true team, he will support Areta if you somehow die while she still lives healthily." He told me.

"Cobalt can talk to you?"

"Of course numbnuts, how do you think I know all of this stuff. I am a part of you that manifests inside the bands. Before this I only knew what you knew. Eventually you and Cobalt will be able to talk directly, cutting me out of the picture. But that will only happen when you two become a team. Until then I'm the middle man." He responded with grin.

**RUMBLE**

"Well, looks like it's time for you to wake up. See ya. Really wished I wasn't ya." He stated waving me off as I suddenly closed my eyes.

I opened them to see I was in a hospital room. It looked just like one on earth with white walls and furniture, only meant for a ponies instead of humans. I looked to my right and saw Areta asleep while clutching my arm.

I tried moving it but couldn't. It was then I remembered my conversation with Pulse. "Awesome." I muttered.

"Areta, psst, Areta. Wake up." I whispered. I didn't want to be flooded by ponies coming in and talking me up a wall. I didn't know who would be here but you never know.

With enough motivation she began to wake up. She lifted her head and yawned looking around for the thing that had woken her up. Eventually her eyes locked with mine. She looked a mess with bloodshot eyes, tear marks, and messed up hair. It was still great to see her though.

She shot up and jumped on the bed giving me a gigantic hug nearly breaking my ribs again. Damn this women liked hugs.

"You're awake." She said, more to herself then to me, as she pulled away with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, it always happens eventually." I said with a smirk.

"You were gone for days. The doctors said the longer you were asleep the less likely that you would wake up." She decided to lay down beside me and hold me. I didn't want to push her away. She cared so much for me already and I didn't want to be mean.

"Yeah I talked to Pulse before I woke up." I started recapping our conversation to her, leaving out the part about the implications of my death.

"Well don't do it again, I thought I was going to lose you." She stated in a strict yet caring tone.

For awhile we just layed there enjoying each others company. Eventually a nurse came in and seeing I was awake, called the doctor who was followed in by Applejack.

"You are very lucky to be alive sir. You had much the same injury Applejack had when you brought her in only with quite a few more broken ribs. You were bleeding heavily internally and your energy reserves were already fairly low. It is a miracle that you have healed so fast."

You don't know the half of it, I thought to myself.

After giving me a few quick tests the doctor left leaving Applejack, Areta, and I alone.

"I will cut to the chase. You know why we were out there, we were looking for you. We wanted, I wanted, to say sorry for putting you through so much trouble and to repay you I would like to ask you if you would like to stay with us till you get back on your feet or find a way home." Applejack said.

I didn't give it a second thought. She was asking me to stay with her free of charge indefinitely. Well maybe not indefinitely, I would be expected to look for a job. I did have one question though.

"Can Areta stay as well? We are kind of a bundle." I said gesturing to Areta who was still laying next to me.

"That would be fine with me. We do have some things to discuss though." Said Applejack.

"What kind of things?"

"Well first off, I know you weren't lying when you told me your story. I can tell any lie from any truth. Because of this my friend Twilight has sent a letter to the princesses I told you about and they will be here once we send a letter to them saying you are ready to talk. Secondly, Applebuck season will be here in a few days and we will have to start getting ready. This means that me and my family won't be around much so you and your marefriend will be on your own for the most part. Thirdly-" She was cut off by myself.

"Woah woah wait. Areta isn't my marefriend, she is just a friend." I stated remembering what it meant from our first discussion.

"Could have fooled me." She said with a smirk while Areta and I blushed.

I cleared my throat "Please, continue"

"Thirdly, Twilight and our friend Pinkie pie think it would be a good idea to introduce you to the town. That's everything" She finished.

"That all seems fine to me. To be honest though I don't need a whole party. I would prefer it to be something small." I didn't like my own birthday party's with my close friends and family let alone an entire town of strangers who at the same time were a different species.

"No can do. Pinkie won't allow it. She doesn't know the meaning of small get together."

"Fine. I think I am ready to meet the princesses." I just wanted to get out of here at this point. The paralyzation was starting to fade and I just wanted to get to Applejack's farm.

"I'll be back in a few minutes with the princesses." She told us as she walked out of the door.

A few minutes later there was a bright flash and before Areta and I were two of the biggest ponies I had seen so far. Each had a horn and wings. The taller one was pure white while the shorter one was a deep blue. They had manes that flowed like air and looked ethereal.

"It is nice to meet you Sam." The white one said to me.

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><p><strong>AN: And here is another chapter. The story hit 1000 views a few hours after I posted the previous chapter which is fantastic. When I started this story I didn't think I would get even close to that. Especially within the first 10 days. That is awesome, pure and utter. If I seem to be putting in too much dialogue tell me. I feel like I am but i'm not entirely sure. I forgot to ask last chapter but how did you guys like the action scene? I thought it was okay but I think it could be better. Sam and Areta are getting closer every day. How long till they take the big step? Well they might not get the chance with a new character who I am hoping to introduce in the next 2 or 3 chapters. Yeah I know Pulse is kind of a dick put that is what he represents, Compulsiveness, so he doesn't think things out unless he has to. If his swearing bothers you PM me and I will try to cut down on it. I just realized how over-powered duplication can be so I thought up a way to solve it so don't worry, there won't be 25 Sams running around with all of the powers. See ya on the flip side.**


	10. Chapter 10: Transitions

Sam's POV

"At some point my suspension of disbelief is just going to flip me the bird and leave, if stuff like this keeps happening." I said as I stared in near disbelief at the, who I assumed to be, the princesses while at the same time trying to nudge Areta off the bed and trying to get out of the bed myself to show some respect to the near all-powerful rulers. That is until I realized that pony society doesn't have medical gowns suited for my needs. So I opted to stay under the sheet.

The blue one just cocked an eyebrow at me in a questioning look. After a few seconds she dropped it to reveal, much to my surprise, a slight glare.

"I beg your pardon?" Celestia asked, confused by statement.

"Nothing your majesty. I would get up and bow to you except that this sheet is the only thing keeping myself from the world if you get my meaning." I stated. I felt completely awkward and, once I noticed it, surprised that they just popped in. Equestria seemed to be really lax on a lot of things.

"I am afraid not Sam."

"How do I explain this?" I thought for a few moments until I thought of what I wanted to say "In my society you don't go around showing your personal baby maker to the rest of the world."

Realization dawned on her and I gotta give her credit she didn't blush like most would. Though that wasn't the case for her sister.

"Well **Hmhmm **I understand. My name is Celestia and this here is my sister Luna."

"Hello Celestia, Luna." I said as more of a formality than anything else. Celestia returned my greeting with a nod and smile while Luna scowled slightly and not much else.

"Is there something troubling you princess?" I directed towards Luna.

Luna said something to her sister who whispered back, they kept this up for a few more minutes before Luna teleported away with a pop.

I raised my brow in a questioning way much the same way Celestia did earlier.

"Luna is... troubled by your appearance. You bear an uncanny resemblance to one adversary that we could not defeat on our own or with the elements. It does not help that you seem to hold bands of power as well." She said trying to cover for her sister.

"From what I have heard the elements are supposed to be all-powerful right? How could you not defeat an enemy with them?" I asked, legitimately curious.

"No doubt having a dryad by your side you know the tale of the band's history?"

"I do."

"Well there is more to it. At one point my sister and I tried to stop the evil one but we failed. The bands are the ultimate tool and his were just too powerful for the elements. We also could not stop him with our regular magic. Luna has feared that someone like him would return someday with the same abilities. It just so happens that, physically, you two are near identical."

"That troubles me." I told her, realizing what the implications of me arriving in this world truly were.

If bands could get so powerful enough as a tool that they supercede the elements I could be in hot water if I wasn't careful about the way I handled this. Especially if another wearer were to appear who could get stronger than I could with a skewed morality or some sort of complex.

"I know of at least one thing that differs us from each other princess." I said.

"And what pray tell, is that?" She said, interested to hear my response.

"I won't become obsessed with power. I will protect and defend where needed. I will live in Ponyville, get a job, and eventually a house. I may not ever have a family again but I can have friends. I will prove my worth to you and princess Luna in due time. For now I would like to discuss any matters you had concerning me." I stated with fierce determination. If I had payed a little more attention I would have seen Celestia dart her eyes to Areta who was blushing when I talked about family.

Celestia's face remained neutral. "I can see you are determined but actions speak louder than words and only time will tell what kind of wearer you are. Applejack has told me about the living arrangements you have made with her. I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain as well." She glared at me as she said that last part.

"I wouldn't think otherwise princess." Holding up my hands for emphasise

She continued "Good. Once a month you will report to Canterlot with the element bearers and we will have a discussion about your time here. That is all I have to discuss with you. There was more but it seems that it has already been taken care. I bid you farewell Sam." With that her horn glowed and she vanished from sight.

I let out a slight breath, afraid of how the ruler would deal with me. Honestly, I thought that she would do a lot more and ask more than one question, especially ones that actually pertained to my being here. I decided to put it aside for now and focus on my new task: getting to the farm.

"Areta could you hand me my clothes?" I asked her, gesturing to the garments on the chair in the corner.

She got up with a nod and handed them to me. She then left the room to give me privacy. I put on the clothes that I could see had been recently washed and repaired. Good thing too since they were starting to smell and I was pretty sure that the wolves did a number on them. I donned my, now fitted, undergarments, green T-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and beach sandals. I would need to get new clothes made by someone in town if I didn't want to walk around the apple house naked while my clothes were being washed as well as thank the pony who repaired and fitted them for me. That was until I realized that they would have had to have taken my measurements while I was unconscious which did not please me.

Once I was done, I left the room and starting wandering around the hospital. I eventually found a nurse who pointed out that I could have easily called for an escort and that the stairs were at the end of the hallway I was in, it would be an understatement that I was embarrassed by my own unrestfulness and stupidity.

I walked down the stairs and went to check out. I had to sign my self out and when I was done with that found Areta and Applejack talking to each other. When they saw me approach they quickly put an end to their conversation with Areta looking away and Applejack giving me a wierd look. I gave her a questioning one of my own but she chose to ignore it which in turn prompted me to drop it for the time being.

"So girls shall we head out? I am dying to finally sleep in a comfortable bed of my own free will." I told them. Applejack nodded her head and rose along with Areta. "Follow me. It's a few minutes walk. Is that alright?" She asked in more of a questioning tone then a concerned one. Maybe these people weren't as naïve as I originally thought.

"It's fine by me. Right now I feel like I could do a marathon." Nope.

"Alright then."

We then spent the next few minutes and the entire walk to the farm, completely silent until we arrived.

"Well here it is. I will go in and let the family know you are here. You already met Big mac but you still have to meet my sister and granny." She followed this up with walking into the house. Areta and I just waited for a few minutes as she rounded up her family.

Eventually they filed out and stood facing us. First was who I assumed was the granny and next to her was Big mac, followed by Applejack, and lastly by a really small one with a bow in her hair.

"Sam, Areta, this here is Granny smith and Applebloom. You already know Big mac." She said as she pointed to her family members.

"Hello, like Applejack said my name is Sam and this here is my close friend Areta. We will be staying with you for the time being until I am on my feet. It is nice to meet you all." I bowed slightly. Have to give the little one and the grandmother credit, they didn't bat an eyelash at me. This town's total number of daily craps given must be incredibly low and shared between them all. So far not many of these ponies seem to care all that much by two mysterious creatures, who I assumed they have never seen anything like before, roaming around their town with basic free rein.

They greeted me in turn.

Applejack saw my slightly baffled look and decided to answer my thoughts "They already know what happened Sam."

"That explains some things." I told her.

The family dispersed and Applejack led Areta and I upstairs to our rooms. That is until I realized that we would have only one room between the two of us and in that one room was only one bed. Granted it was big enough for someone of my height and was wide enough to comfortably hold the both of us. I admit that I liked sleeping with someone I do need my privacy. I guess I had to just hold out till I could afford a two bedroom anything.

"At the risk of sounding ungrateful, why is there only one bed?" I said voicing the least ungrateful question in my head at the moment.

"That is the only bed that could fit ya." She said with a combination of a scowl and a knowing face which looked absolutely ridiculous.

"I didn't mean to sound ungrateful but it's just... nevermind it will do, I shouldn't complain." I said trying to diffused the growing tension. Applejack let it go for now or at least I hoped she did.

"It is getting late Sam, we should turn in for the night." Areta said. I realized that the sun was setting. I wasn't all that tired but I could force myself asleep. I assumed that Areta wouldn't go to bed alone and she looked fairly tired.

"You're right. Lets turn in." Applejack left and closed the door on her way out. I decided to take off my shirt knowing I would be more comfortable without it.

This didn't seem to sit well with Areta though "Why are you taking off your clothing?!" she all but yelled at me. I just stood there in shock at her sudden outburst. I eventually regained my composure enough to respond to her.

"I was just getting comfortable is all. If it bothers you so much I would be happy to put it back on." I didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

She eventually replied but not before studying my exposed torso "The process of a man taking his shirt off in front of a dryad sends very... sensual signals." She said with a blush.

It took my a moment to realize what she meant and my eyebrows shot up, almost comically, in shock at this revelation. I quickly donned my shirt while apologizing to her. To be honest she didn't seem all that mad about it after getting over her initial shock. She almost seemed like she didn't want me to put my shirt back on, though I chalked that up to me just looking to deeply into things and shrugged it off. We layed down in the bed only instead of together we were apart with our backs to each other. I got lucky twice, I wasn't going to go for three. I was about to fall asleep until something hit me.

"Areta?"

"Yeah?"

"You said that dryads are all female, what did you mean by male? Not to mention how do you even discern yourself as female if dryads only have one gender and how do you know about males in general?" I assumed that the reason she had breasts would also be answered.

These questions seemed to shock her and it took her a few minutes for her to respond.

"Well you see...um... dryads and the band-wearers species used to be very... close."

Realization dawned on me by what she meant after a few moments of pondering her word choice. But I had to make sure.

"What do you mean by close?"

"My sisters, who were alive while they roamed Equestria, told me that we used to... seduce males for better and stronger children for both species, most of this we did without them noticing." I could all but hear her blush while she spoke.

"That's... interesting." I stated not knowing what else I could say. She didn't speak either probably due to her just wanting to end this conversation and go to sleep much like I did now regretting having all the answers to my questions.

Eventually we both fell asleep.

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><p><strong>AN: I am starting to come up with ideas for other stories that I want to write but don't know if it would be the best thing for me to start something else while doing this. If you guys do want me to try my hand with another story just PM me and I will give it more thought. Today's story has more of a solemn origin to it. I started writing it down thursday but didn't finish it until today during lunch at school. The only reason I could though was because we were on lockdown. Apparently there had been a shooting across the street at a pick'n'save involving some of my classmates. We were in the cafeteria for about an hour and a half until they sent us home around 11:30. I kept myself occupied by quickly finishing up the story while my friends played with my Uno cards I kept in my backpack for downtime in class. Enough with the origin I have other things to discuss. Ohh scandalous dryads, which is how they kind of were in greek mythology. I am going to have to plan out my timeline for the next few chapters accordingly since I don't remember how long applebuck season lasts and I need to time the arrival of newest character and another event that I have in mind which can't happen during applebuck season since it would be extremely detrimental to both. I want to do more action soon and have a scene that I want that will quell this urge. It doesn't help though that I have been obsessed with 'I need a hero', mostly the version from shrek 2 which I like more to be honest. I also have heard it enough times that I can play it in my head so that isn't helping me either. See ya on the flip side.**


	11. Chapter 11: The clash of Women

**A/N: I have no idea how long Applebuck season lasts and I can't find the episode online. Where I originally viewed it has been deleted and I don't feel like waiting for it to air for the next chapter so I am going to assume it is about 4 weeks but will be shorter.**

Sam's POV

The past week had passed by with quite a bit happening. Applebuck season had begun literally the day after we arrived at the farm and we had decided to help, effectively cutting the time in half with my speed and Areta's natural friendship of the vegetative kind. I also got a lot of practice in while doing this so it was a win-win for me. I had actually found a decent job in town as a general handy-man, I could credit my innate ability to fix anything under the sun to my grandfather. It turns out unicorn magic isn't nearly as dexterous as my hands were. Although some unicorn's like Rarity were much more nimble with their magic than regular unicorn's, there were very few of them in Ponyville, not to mention that I could work at half the rates and still make a lot of bits. I would be able to rent out a small house in a matter of two weeks if I kept getting steady work which came in by the truckloads. I was backed up for the next two months, good thing I was my own boss, though I was only paid when I completed a job. I had also met, in my book, the infamous Pinkie pie. She forced me to come to her 'welcome to ponyville' party and then proceeded to keep me there against my will. I am not a man of social events. The party served its purpose and formally introduced me to the town, which went over much as I would have expected, nobody cared and just went on with their day. Sometimes I think the only people who do anything in this town besides their job are the element bearers and their family's. Rainbow dash had also healed well and was in her cloud home in bed waiting till she could take off the casts. We also learned the hard way what happens when Areta and I are separated by long distances. Apparently if we are more than 10 miles apart we get exponentially weaker and hypothetically, if we got far enough away from each other, dye. Today, because the Apple family was so ahead of schedule, Areta and I were promptly kicked off the farm and told to socialize with everypony. Needless to say we had the biggest surprise of our lives, meeting each other excluded.

We were walking down a road near the western edge of town until we heard a scream which in and of itself caused slighty nostalgic memories to fill my head. I immediately took off, being the good-natured and oh so generous guy I was. The weird thing was I felt like I recognized that scream which was wierd since the only other person or pony I had heard scream was right behind me.

Within a matter of moments we found the source of a scream. It was another human. She, I could tell it was a she from the long blonde hair, was surrounded by a group of ponies just staring at her like she was out of her mind. Eventually I recognized her and it hit me like a stone.

"Emily? Emily!" I shouted.

Her eyes locked with mine and I knew who it was, my sister.

"Sam?! Where are we? Why am I being stared at by mutated multicolored horses?" She asked me frantically.

"It is alright Emily. They won't hurt you, I promise." I assured my sister.

"Alright everypony move along, there is nothing to see here." I shouted to the gathered audience. Who eventually dispersed leaving just Areta, Emily, and I.

Emily ran up and grasped me in a bear hug that crushed my lungs. Which I reciprocated with vigor.

"Sam, who is this?" Areta asked me. I thought I detected a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Areta, this is Emily, my sister. Emily this is Areta, my new, permanent, life-long best friend."

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"I will explain later. Right now we need to get you to sweet Apple acres. Areta, I need you to tell Twilight about what happened so she can tell the princesses. If you want to, tell the others as well." She nodded and ran off.

Emily and I started walking and along the way I explained to her what happened to me. She was surprised and worried about the bands and the few occurences of violence that I had been in but, as was her nature, she took it in stride. Though she was dumbfounded that I had been here for two weeks. In our world it had been only a few hours and she went to investigate the park when I texted her, which reminded me I had a phone this whole time.

She told me that she had gone to the park searching for me and could feel something very much akin to what I had felt. After exploring for a few hours, she eventually found a glade with nothing in it. She walked into the center of it and that is when she transported here much the same way I did. She too, looked noticeably different. Her hair was a more golden shade of yellow and she was slightly taller. Beauty-wise, she had jumped up from what my friends would call a six to what I assumed they would call a nine, overall, she pointed out the same thing for me when I brought it up about her. The only thing that differed in our changes was that she didn't have any bands which I was thankful for since my sister could harbor a grudge and had a fairly short temper for some things to boot. I had to explain to her multiple times about Areta's behavior towards me. When she finally seemed to accept what I told her she scowled slightly but returned to her regular neutral expression soon afterwards.

We got to the farmhouse about a minute after I finished explaining everything to her. We found Applejack in the kitchen preparing lunch and I explained to her who Emily was and how she came to be here. She said she would love for her to stay yet she didn't have any beds that she could use. I just decided I would sleep on the floor and let Areta and my sister sleep on the bed. Emily objected to this profusely and insisted that Areta should sleep on the floor of all things. This made me suspicious that she didn't like Areta but I ignored it for the time being, if anything were to happen I could easily force them to make nice.

Areta arrived about an hour later. She told us that everyone knew and that they would be coming over tomorrow to meet Emily. For the rest of the day we just relaxed. We didn't say much to each other, which I was glad for since I didn't feel like talking anymore today after having to explain so much.

Night rolled around eventually and we decided to go to bed. Applejack handed me some blankets and a spare pillow which I messily arranged on the floor and promptly passed out on, tired from the day. Areta and my sister, reluctantly, got into the bed together.

Areta's POV

"Areta, are you still awake?" I heard Emily ask from behind me.

"Yeah." I responded, unsure what she wanted.

"Sam, are you still awake?" When she didn't hear anything she muttered "Good."

"Areta we need to talk." She said as I heard her sit up. I did the same and faced her. She had a slightly angry expression on her face.

"About what?"

"Sam."

"What about him?" I was starting to get worried about this.

"I want you to stay away from him, at least romantically. Stop teasing him. I know you like him so don't deny it, I can see it in your eyes whenever you look at him."

"What gives you the right to forbid me from seeing him, you are just his sister." I answered, offended that she would do such a thing and a little surprised that she was much more observant of body language then her brother.

"That is exactly what gives me that right. I am his sister so I protect him from bad women and boy has he had some bad women in his life. I assume he told you about his past relationships?"

"He told me he hasn't had one longer than a few weeks." I said a little warily.

"That is because he only attracts skanks and other unsavory women who will just use him. The only reason he isn't a shivering pile of depression is because I protected him from them and I will be damned if you ruin my perfect streak or my brother. He is the only family I have left and if you think you can take him away from me you have another thing coming." She said in a harsh whisper.

"I am not like those other women. We are bonded together for the rest of our lives, we might as well make the most of it. And you can't stop me either. You may be his sister but I am his new partner in life." I defended myself.

"Girls?" Sam said sleepily as he raised his head to look at us. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine Sam. Go back to bed." Emily cooed to her brother. We waited a few minutes to continue speaking to make sure he was a sleep. When his breathing deepened we continued.

"I don't know that and you don't know that. My brother is a sensitive man when it comes to romance. He doesn't like being touched by anyone other then me and his best friend back home. Didn't you ever notice how uncomfortable he was when you forced yourself on him?" She shot back at me.

"I... **sigh** yes I did. But I just thought that it was a phase." I said as realization dawned on me. If I didn't stop touching him so much I risked alienating him.

"No it isn't. He needs to know you much better before he is completely comfortable with physical contact." She said before taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"Leave my brother alone. You can be friends but I forbid anything else." She said with finality, signaling that this conversation was over.

"Fine." I grumpily said to her. I wasn't going to stop trying but I knew that I would have to be cautious around Emily if I ever wanted our relationship to go anywhere. I also knew that if I did want to have a relationship with Sam I would either need to get Emily out of his life or get her blessing. Neither of which was going to be easy and the latter being near impossible at this moment.

I decided to sleep on it. I knew that if I harmed Emily, Sam would never speak to me again so that was out of the question, not to mention that I didn't believe in petty violence. I knew anything else was fair game though.

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><p><strong>AN: Just like I based Sam on my self physically, I based Emily on my real sister physically. I also based Emily's personality on my sister. Basically I put my sister in the story. The relationship in the story is the same one in the real world, highly close knit and protective. We are actually a decade younger then Sam and Emily who are 6 years apart. That being said I don't actually know what my sister would look like as a woman so you can envision her however you would like, just don't be perverts about it. In the real world we look quite similar, as siblings usually are, so if you want just picture a feminine Sam with long blonde hair. My sister's favorite color is blue and she likes wearing jean shorts so make of that what you will since I don't do clothes very well. See ya on the flip side.**


	12. Chapter 12: Handyman Mishaps

Sam's POV

The next morning was a little odd. Areta and Emily kept glancing at each other with scowls on their faces. Each time I got near to one of them the other would give the other a glare when they thought I wasn't looking. I knew something was up but I didn't have time to deal with it right now, I would have to deal with it tomorrow since I had to get to work on a few projects around town as well.

Twilight and the others came over around 10 and we sat down in the Apple family's living room. The other pony, I think her name was Fluttershy, sat as far away from me as she could, I was pretty sure she didn't like me or at the very least disapproved of me. It probably didn't help that the one of the first few things that I did the day after I got to the Apple house was ask if she had any meat that I could have. She looked horrified and started acting really distant. I pointed out that she did take care of carnivores and omnivores but she said that they get their own food. I sat on the floor with Rainbow and Applejack while Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity sat on the love seat and Fluttershy sat in Granny smith's chair. Areta and Emily were nowhere to be found so I just decided to let it go, they both knew of the meeting.

"Where is your sister Sam?" Twilight asked of me. Well I felt dumb.

"Oh yeah. Sorry I forgot that this was for you girls to meet her. I will go find her, be right back." I said as I got up to find my sister. I found her a few minutes later in the kitchen talking with Applebloom. We returned to the girls and she sat by me.

"Everyone this is my sister, Emily. Emily this is Twilight, Rainbow dash, Rarity, Pinkie pie, Fluttershy, and you already know Applejack." I pointed to each of them, they all said a mix of greetings and pleasantries while Emily just said a quick hello.

"Sam, I also called this meeting for another reason. We will be going to Canterlot for the week to discuss some things with the princesses." Twilight told me. She didn't look me in the eye when she told me this so I knew something was up.

"It is about me and Emily isn't it?" I said with a raised eyebrow and accusatory tone

"Well...you see..."

"Spit it out Twilight." I said impatiently.

"Yes, but that is all I will tell you at the moment. We will be leaving in about an hour so this is goodbye for now." She said with finality.

"What about the farm, is Big mac enough to handle the orchard?"

"We are so ahead of schedule it won't matter. In fact it is because we are so ahead that we are able to go on the trip in the first place." Applejack responded.

"Well okay then." I got up to leave sensing that the conversation was over. I needed to get to work.

"Where are you going?" Asked Rainbow.

"Work. I have a lot to do today and I want to get started." I answered her.

"Alright." She said, slightly disappointed. Man people here are kind of clingy.

"If you need us Sam, Spike will still be at the library." I nodded to Twilight.

"Goodbye everyone." I called to them as I walked out the door.

"Bye" I heard them call.

My list for the day included an assortment of different jobs.

A pony named Bon Bon needed her sink unclogged and needs to have the piping replaced. Dr. Whooves needs an assistant for an hour or two with a project he is working on. Carrot top needs someone to fix up her gardening equipment. Cherilee needs someone to repair the mechanism that rings the bell. And last but definitely not least are two ponies by the names of Aloe and Lotus who need help with quite a few things around their spa, apparently the hot tub has a leak, a few of their tables and lounge chairs are leaning and wiggle, and finally they need someone to help them finish building a second hot tub.

Lets just say that I had some problems along the way. At Bon Bons I had asked her to turn off the water to the sink but she turned the wrong valve and when I took off the first piece of pipe off I got doused with water. I eventually fixed it and cleaned up. Dr. Whooves apparently needed a test dummy which I don't care to elaborate on, lets just say it didn't end well, I will have a burn mark forever on my left buttcheek now. Carrot top's farming equipment was badly out of shape, so much so that I was surprised that she could even still use it. I got to work sharpening the blades for the individual tools and did the equivalent to a tune up for the rest of her things, to bad on the last piece of equipment I sliced my hand open. I got it bandaged up and set my regeneration on. I had hoped it would heal by the time I got back. Cherilee's school bell was a nightmare. I couldn't find what was wrong with it for the life of me, all I knew was that it wouldn't ring. I had to take the entire thing apart and experiment with each section of it to find the missing part. Apparently one of the gears, somehow, got worn down and wouldn't turn properly. After I found it I had to put the entire thing back together from memory with Cherilee's help. That took about 2 to 3 hours total. Lastly I went to the spa. Let's just say that for masseuse's they aren't very graceful. While I was fixing the hot tub I asked one of them to hand me a socket wrench. The pink one picked up a hammer and slapped it into my palm giving me the shock of a lifetime and hurting me hand quite a bit as that was the hand that I had sliced open earlier that day. Eventually I got it fixed up, repaired the furniture and built the second hot tub but not after being tripped a few times by the two, apparently, sisters who weren't very mindful of their surroundings.

It was about 4 in the afternoon by the time I got finished with everything. I did it surprisingly quickly all things considered. I had stopped to check my hand on the way out of the spa and was happy that it had healed nicely, you would only notice the scar if you were looking right at my hand. I was headed home when Pulse decided to drop in.

"_We have a problem." _Pulse said urgently.

"What are you talking ab-"

**Raaaaaawwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrr**

_"That problem."_

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><p><strong>AN: What roared? Will Sam be able to protect Ponyville? Will Sam ever catch a break for more than a day or two? All will be answered next chapter. (The answer to the last question is probably not). See ya on the flip side.**


	13. Chapter 13: Draconian beat Down

**Sam's POV**

I looked over to see what had made the screech and was surprised to see a dragon towering above the southern end of town.

"Pulse, why the hell is there a dragon in the village?" I growled at him.

"_How the hell should I know? I live in YOUR head remember, I only know things that you perceive, know, and what I am told by Cobalt._" He shot right back.

"Okay then. Lets go kick some draconian tail." I said as I took off with speed.

I reached the dragon in seconds. I had to get through crowds of ponies to reach the dragon and when I got to him I noticed that he was destroying houses. I knew I needed to get him away from Ponyville lest he level the whole town.

"He salamander! Wanna play?!" I yelled up to him. He looked down and when he saw me his gaze turned from one of boredom to one of pure hatred. He screeched again and brought his claw down.

"Maybe that was a bad idea." I told myself as I sped away from it and out-of-town. Much to my surprise the dragon could follow my movements, just not react quick enough.

"Pulse, is duplication ready?" I asked him, knowing that to win I would need a little help.

"Yeah but don't you remember what it does? It drains you constantly. You have maybe five minutes of juice before you peeter out and drop unconscious. Not to mention you only have as many clones as powers and that while each clone can use the powers assigned to it simultaneously, they are halved."

"You don't have to remind me. When I sped away I managed to touch him and got his fire breath. How well do you think that will go with flight?"

"_I'd say pretty well actually. Why?... Oh. That might work. Go for it."_

I had acquired flight while I was helping a pegasus with his new shed. I had needed it and Fluttershy wouldn't let me touch her. I asked him for it as payment and he agreed. The only thing was, was that I actually grew wings and if they were too damaged at the end of a battle then they could be locked down to me while they heal.

I engaged duplication, assigning flight and fire breath to one clone and the other strength and speed. The good thing about duplication was that, if used correctly, it would allow me to use all my powers at once but the more clones I had the more it drained on me and so far I had only been able to duplicate myself into two copies.

I went into a state of where I was watching over my clones but also was experiencing everything they did. While like this either clone could take a fatal blow but one of them would have to survive the fight for me to survive. This was the moment where Pulse was the most useful. He helped me coordinate everything, without him this wouldn't be possible.

Avian: I flew up to meet the dragon. The plan was for me to distract it while strength went in for the kill.

I flew up around and started circling the dragon. My fire breath was extremely hot and I couldn't wait to see what it could do at full power. I might even be able to hurt the dragon right now if I put enough power into it but I didn't have many reserves. Most of the energy was going to Strength to make sure he had as much power as possible.

I started breathing my flame and stopping the dragon in its tracks. It didn't have wings which I was glad for but I myself could only go so high.

Strength: While Avian was distracting the dragon I rushed forward and around it. My job was to find a weak spot. Sam wanted this to be as quick and painless as possible, in other words he didn't want to dick around.

I was having a hard time finding one though. This dragon was built tough, we might have to just beat it to death. I relayed this back to Pulse who relayed it back to...to..., that's when I heard it. Avian's screech.

The dragon had come up with a new tactic, to use its own fire. Apparently Avian and him had gotten into a dick measuring contest with the flames and he lost. I saw Avian fall out of the sky and dissipate returning to me. I could feel Pulse and Sam do the same.

"Shit, what do we do now!" I asked pulse. My energy was low, Strength had taken too long finding that weak spot and with Avian using up power like that I was low.

I decided to do what Strength had suggested, beat the crap out of it.

I sped from the dragon before it could catch me in its maw.

I turned around quickly and launched myself at it fist out. It twisted around and whipped me with its tail sending me into a tree. I got up and tried a different approach, I turned on speed again and went around to the creatures back. Strength may have been honorable but I wasn't. I saw what I was looking for and launched myself again, straight into its baby storage facility.

The dragon let out a loud yowl and turned around. Seeing where its prey had ended up and putting two and two together, it decided to crush me. It brought its paw down and all I could do was turn on strength and hold it. I was too tired for speed.

I quickly started losing ground and eventually, with one final push, the dragon crushed me. It brought its paw up again and crushed me. It repeated this action time and time again until eventually it was struck by a golden beam. I looked to the sky and saw Celestia flying in the air with an expression I couldn't read from this distance.

With the town in good hands I passed out.

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><p><strong>AN: I am really sorry everyone for not updating this story. I have been really preoccupied with my second story and have been compelled to write it. To be honest, I like this ones concept much more but I like my second story more overall. This was just to let you guys know that I haven't abandoned the story. It will continue don't worry. My second story I already have the ending for, and even though that won't be for a while, I will still be able to get a new chapter out everyday that I feel like writing. The only thing I haven't figured out is who the love interest is, once I do that I will have almost, if not all, of the story mapped out. See ya on the flip side.**


	14. Chapter 14: Revelations

**A/N: 'A new start' is finally finished people. I took a little break and will now be focusing on this story until its end. I am pretty sure I know what to do with the rest of it and hopefully end it around where I ended my last story, around chapter 30 or earlier. Also, excuse me if I accidentally mix up names. I almost switched Sam and Caine multiple times in the first few chapters of 'A new start' and I can see myself doing it in the following chapters.**

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><p><strong>Sam's POV<strong>

I woke up with a splitting headache and my left arm in a cast. I was in the bedroom Areta, Emily, and I shared. I looked around the room for any sign of someone but couldn't find one. The only thing new in the room was a large tub that didn't appear to be filled with anything but steaming water. I attempted to get out of bed but failed miserably, managing only to plant my face on the hard, wooden floor.

I looked over to see my left foot in a cast as well. I looked around for crutches but couldn't find any.

"Pulse, what happened?" I asked him.

"_Well let's see, you got served by a dragon, fixed up by some pony doctors after you were carried to the hospital, brought back here and have been sleeping peacefully in a coma like state for the past week. Also, regeneration doesn't seem to be working and Cobalt is agitated about something, so be careful if we have to fight before he gets over it." _He responded.

"Well isn't that swell." I said to myself, sarcastically.

I tried to get up once more but I just couldn't. My arm was utterly useless in helping to get me up and the few times I managed to actually stand, my foot hurt too much to be used for more than a second.

I finally managed to get back on the bed and wait for someone to come and check on me. I didn't feel liking yelling in a house that wasn't my own. It felt rude.

Eventually, though, someone did come and I was relieved to see Areta, unharmed, stroll in with a bucket of water and a sponge.

"Hello Areta." I said casually, not wanting to startle her. It didn't work and she screeched and dropped the bucket, spilling water everywhere.

She eventually got over her surprise and she quickly enveloped me in a bone crushing hug, getting my arm in there as well.

"Areta...broken...arm." I managed to choke out. She quickly broke the embrace and apologized.

"It's fine. Why were you carrying a bucket full of water? Were you about to wash the windows?" I asked of her. I glanced over to the windows to see how dirty they were but they seemed fine to me.

"They aren't that dirty." I stated. I looked back over at her and she was blushing profusely.

I cocked an eyebrow and motioned for her to tell me.

"Well, you see. You were starting to stink and the hospital didn't do a very good job cleaning you. Your sister wouldn't even give a thought about it and none of the ponies can scrub hard enough to clean you. So it was left to me." She answered almost in a whisper. It only took me a millisecond to realize what she was talking about and I quickly became very hot with embarrassment.

"Well then, thank you for your concern, but now that I am awake I think I can do it myself." I told her. Her blush didn't look like it was going to go away any time soon.

"I will need something to cover the casts, though." I told her.

"They are water proof." She said. I gave her a quick nod and she left. I started thinking about how I was going to do this.

I decided to take off my clothes first, and, after struggling a bit, managed to strip. Afterwards, I tried walking but fell flat on my face once more. Let me tell you, falling naked hurts a lot more than falling clothed. I eventually made it to the tub on the, now dry, floor, which really hurt. It felt like a gymnasium's floor to say the least. I didn't even know how the floor was already dry but I was too preoccupied at the moment to think on it further. I eventually made it to the tub but realized I didn't have the sponge. I cursed myself and made the trip to it and back.

I eventually managed to make it into the, now ice cold, water. I started scrubbing myself with the sponge and finished sometime later.

I got out of the tub and managed to crawl my way back to the bed after I dried off. I found some clothes in the bedside dresser and, after struggling profusely, managed to get them all on and comfortable. I felt like I had just run a marathon, I was so tired.

I looked outside to see the sun high in the sky out over Ponyville. The town looked like nothing had even happened. I still had a lot of questions and wanted answers but that would have to wait.

Eventually, I heard a knock on the door and voice. "Are you decent?"

"I am, come in Emily." I called to her.

She opened the door and rushed towards me. "Oh thank God, you are all right. I thought I lost you." She hugged me and decided to sit on my lap like she used to do when we were younger. "When they brought you to the hospital you looked like you were already dead. I was so scared." She had tears in her eyes. I went to comfort her but she stopped me. "Don't you ever do something so stupid ever again! Do you hear me?!" She said as she slapped my uninjured arm's shoulder really hard.

"I got it, I got it." I told her while rubbing it.

"Good. Celestia would like to speak to you first thing in the morning. For now, I'll help you downstairs and you can catch up with everyone." She said.

She got off of my lap and helped me up. With her supporting me, we made our way out of the room and down the stairs, to the Apple's sitting room. The girls and the Apple family, along with Areta, were all seated and I was put into a chair. Emily sat on the arm while everyone looked at me with questioning stares.

"What?" I asked, curious as to why they were all staring like that at me.

Applejack spoke up. "We were just curious as to why all this happened." She didn't sound curious. More like she was fishing for something.

"What makes you think I know?" I responded.

Twilight spoke this time. "Well, you were the one who went after the dragon and held it off long enough for princess Celestia to arrive."

"I only did that because I was trying to protect the town." I told her.

Rarity stood up next. "Is that the only reason? You didn't, say, bring the dragon here for some sort of glorified stunt?"

"Wait, what?! Why would I do that? _How_ would I do that?" I shot at her, just managing to keep my anger in check.

Rainbow Dash was apparently next. "Well you are a freaky alien with magical super weapons." She said as she got into my face. I looked over to Emily and Areta who were both looking away, as if in shame.

"I can't believe this! You all think I lured a _dragon _here, just so I could almost _die _trying to protect you all from it? Are you insane!" I retorted. I couldn't believe they didn't trust me. I honestly had thought we were all past this nonsense but, apparently, I was wrong.

I stood up, painfully, and looked out over all of them. "I can't believe you all. I tried to protect this town from something dangerous. I risked my life for all of you when I could have easily gotten Areta, Emily, and I out of this town faster than you can say danger. But maybe that was a mistake. If you don't trust me then we'll be leaving. So much for so called 'friends'." I started making my way slowly past them.

I looked back at Areta and Emily. "Aren't you girls coming?" I asked. They looked up at me with blank expressions. The others had the same looks, no emotion. "No" They said in unison.

I turned away and started to make my way out of the house. I started following a wandering path and walked until sunset. I looked around to see I was still in the orchard.

"Well, isn't this grand." I said as I plopped myself down to lean on a tree. I started trying to activate regeneration because my ankle felt like it was being torn off, but it wouldn't work. I decided to just breath through the pain until it started to wane to a dull throbbing.

"What are we going to do Pulse? We're back to square one." I asked him. He didn't answer. "Pulse?"

_"Hmm? Sorry, something just didn't feel right about all of that. I have been looking over the memory for the past few hours but can't put my finger on it."_

"I guess we will find out in the morning then."

**Aaron's POV**

It worked wonderfully to say the least. I couldn't believe that idiot thought that they hated him.

"Good work girls." I told all of them.

"Go to hell." Emily said.

"Well that's rude. Don't you like me anymore?" I asked her.

"I haven't liked you in years you disgusting pervert. I want my brother back." She yelled at me from her position in her brother's chair.

I grabbed her chin and brought it close to my face. "Well Sam isn't coming back, he is a stubborn fool after all. The ponies made sure he won't, and your's and the dryad's performances just cemented his suspicions. He won't be coming back and with those broken bones of his, he won't last longer than a week."

"At least let the ponies go." She begged of me.

"Not going to happen, Emily. There isn't any point. I already got rid of the only other band wearer, why take chances with the elements of harmony. I would be dumber than your brother if I let them go. And you and the Dryad are my prisoners in case, for some miraculous reason, your brother decides to return." I threw her back into the chair and my bands pulsed, sending out a message for the unicorns to put them somewhere they couldn't get free.

I looked at the gift that had been bestowed upon me. They were a toxic looking green and they complimented my middle eastern shaded skin nicely.

"This is going to be fun." I said to myself as I went over my plans for equestria.

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><p><strong>AN: No, don't take it as me being racist. I just thought it would be good to throw in some diversity. Like 99% of all MLP fanfictions are filled with white humans. I have only ever read one where one of the humans wasn't white. I just thought it would be a nice change of pace. The main antagonist has been revealed. Stay tuned. See ya on the flip side.**


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